LOS ANGELES — James Harden has been through more playoff series than most, and certainly more than the current crop of Clippers players.
This is Harden’s 15th postseason and nothing fazes him, not even when the team’s biggest star sits out Game 1 of their first-round series against the Dallas Mavericks. He shrugged at the notion that Kawhi Leonard’s absence would change his mindset going into Sunday’s game.
“It didn’t. It didn’t.” he said.
Harden was Harden, coming up big in a 109-97 victory in his first playoff game in a Clippers uniform at Crypto.com Arena.
The future Hall of Fame point guard scored a team-high 28 points (20 before halftime) and had eight assists to help the Clippers overcome a strong challenge from the Mavericks.
“Obviously, Kawhi is out, so my playmaking and my volume is going to go up a little bit more and I took advantage of it,” Harden said.
His step-back jumpers and 6-for-11 showing from 3-point range caught the attention of his teammates, especially center Ivica Zubac, Harden’s partner in pick-and-roll situations.
“James was great, man. We needed him and he played great,” Zubac said. “He is one of the greatest scorers this game has seen. He can do that on a nightly basis and it’s just the role is different for him on this team and no Kawhi, we need him to score more and that’s what he did, and we all know if he can do that.”
Clippers coach Tyronn Lue wasn’t surprised by the way Harden stepped up in Leonard’s absence. He said when Harden makes the right play and attacks it opens up “everything else for us.”
“James is James,” Lue said. “We need him to be aggressive no matter if Kawhi is playing or who is on the floor. When he’s getting 10 or 11 threes up, it’s usually going to be a good night for us.
“Overall, we know James can score at a high level. Tonight, he was really good.”
TWO-MAN GAME
Harden spent the season developing a pick-and-roll chemistry with Zubac, and it paid off in their playoff opener.
In addition to Harden’s big game, Zubac had a playoff-career high 20 points on 10-for-17 shooting to go with 15 rebounds.
“Just a perfect game for a big,” Harden said.
Lue called the game’s first play for Zubac, and the Clippers were off and running to their dominant start.
“When I’m out there, I’m going to try to punish them in the post,” said Zubac, in his sixth season with the team. “I want to be the best version I can be for this team.”
All-Star wing Paul George praised his teammate.
“We’re going to be very good any time Zu is playing at that level,” he said.
CAUGHT OFF GUARD
Mavericks star point guard Luka Doncic said his team practiced believing Leonard was going to play Game 1 and it affected their game. Leonard’s status for Tuesday’s Game 2 is undetermined.
“(His absence) should not change our mentality,” Doncic said. “Their mentality was next man up and they did very well, very well. We just got to stay focused for 48 minutes. It’s the playoffs so we got to stay focused 48 minutes.”
Kyrie Irving said the Mavericks were somewhat caught off guard by not seeing Leonard during their poor first half as the Clippers built a 26-point halftime lead.
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“They don’t have Kawhi right now, so that was an adjustment for us,” he said.
Irving added that Sunday’s game was a “great first test for us” but not as successful as he had hoped.
“We obviously failed, we came out with a loss,” Irving told the Dallas Morning News. “I think there are some things we can take into Game 2. … Just not overthink it.”
PLAYOFF HISTORY
The Mavericks have made the playoffs three previous times in the Doncic era. Two of those postseason losses came in the first round to the Clippers while the other was when the Mavs reached the 2022 Western Conference finals without seeing the Clippers.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
