The Clippers finally got a win with James Harden and his teammate Paul George spoke about the immediate changes since getting their first W with The Beard on board.
Harden hit the game-winner against his old team Houston on Friday and George explained how the clutch three-pointer has lifted the whole team.
“Vibes was definitely high,” George said on Podcast P With Paul George. “You get one win and now the expectation has changed, the energy has changed, that attitude going into games has changed…We were getting better and now we finally got over the hump. So now we know what that feels like.”
Something that seems to have sparked a change in the Clippers was Westbrook coming off the bench, which has given Harden more control offensively.
Paul spoke about the sacrifice Russ has made for the team and gave him his flowers.
“For us to go through this stretch of not winning and not knowing how to win with this squad yet, for him to take the initiative and be like ‘you know what I’ll sacrifice and I’ll try to make this work and come off the bench’ it just says a lot about him, bro,” George said. He never ceases to amaze me, as long as I’ve played on the same teams and as long as I’ve known him. Every day it’s something new. Shout out to him [Russell Westbrook]. That’s not an easy decision to make, especially when you still have so much game and value to this league.”
Before the team’s first win since the Harden trade, things were looking pretty dire.
The Clippers lost six straight, which was hard to swallow for a team that, on paper, should have been killing it.
Veteran All-Star’s George, Harden, Westbrook, along with Kawhi Leonard headline the roster.
Some have even started to wonder if the Clippers star power will be all too much, as there have been whispers of a Westbrook trade already.
Watch this space.