James Harden Reacts To The Clippers 125-114 Win Over The Brooklyn Nets. HoopJab NBA

James Harden Reacts To The Clippers 125-114 Win Over The Brooklyn Nets. HoopJab NBA

He uh James congrats on the win what was the biggest difference for you for you guys in the fourth quarter as opposed to the first three quarter cuz it seems like in the first three quarters you guys struggle point of attack defensively and then tyou mentioned you

As well when he was in here he talking about you guarding the ball and you accepting the challenge what was the difference between you individually and you guys as a team in that fourth quarter uh our defense they scored 15 points in that in that fourth quarter

You know simple as that we’re engaged we’re doing the things necessary to guard and get stops consecutively you know we’re we’re extremely like unbeatable team you know I mean it’s where we just feel like we’re going through the motions and team score to get confidence start making shots like

We knew coming into the game they were going to shoot a lot of Threes they shot like 14 at first quarter you know what I mean so uh they came off punched Us in the mouth and we just that fourth quarter We we played Clipper basketball

And and got some stops and you know everything else is history James it feels like but um when the team is down and you feel like you need this team to put their energy up on the court you hit the paint like you you make sure that it’s not just on step

Backs you’re you’re touching pain either whether you’re scoring or you’re setting guys up like how how are you reading the game and when do you determin that that’s what you got to do I think my job for this team is to touch the paint you

Know what I mean um and get a shot you know make the shot make the game a lot easier for a teammate so whether I got my step back going or get into the paint you know I’m going to make it a play whether it’s for opponent me our

Teammate to score or make it pass pass and we score from that so uh they they did a really good job of switching I think they’re got the second most switches in the league so we knew they were going to switch so was getting into the paint and then creating a domino

Effect from there James uh right over here you you mentioned obviously a lot of people remember those defensive stops late in the game those big plays but it seems like after the team had a little bit of trouble with shots going in you were you you’re just on 100 you got to

The line you’re making transition buckets what was the biggest part before that fourth quarter that that elevated your game I think I think giving us a a boost you know I mean that’s what I’m here for uh finding ways to impact the game and

And when we kind of down and we not we don’t got things going or things seem like they you know are are not in our favor just you know Finding ways to to put it in our favor and uh scoring the basketball gave us a little momentum and

Then we just kept telling our El getting under under 10 under 10 and our defense hit that switch and you know after that like we all got it going so uh for me it’s just not just scoring not just facilitating defensively getting stops finding ways to impact the game because

Like in the postseason things aren’t going to be pretty you know what I mean so for us is just finding other ways to win a game and I don’t think we had a game like this yet th far so it feel really good that we can you know what I

Mean like obviously we don’t want to you know we down double digits and down 20 points or what not but to have that confidence that we are good enough to come back and and lock in when time to lock in gives us a little more confidence James we often talk about how

The things that don’t show up on the stat sheet Russ thank the fans after the game how much energy do you all get from them when you’re on the court it was like a party in today it was like the energy was like on on 100 like literally

You know what I mean that I mean obviously fans come and they cheer and they you know enjoy the game and whatnot but like that right there is like home court event like that’s what it’s about and uh you know the more we keep winning the more we keep you know trending in

The right direction I think they’ll start buying in and give us that energy every single night for even with nights like us as players we are human you know what I mean so as much as y’all come to watch the show and watch us perform there’s days where we do have slow

Starts and we like you know what I mean this is the 40th game you know what I mean we need that energy to extra boost and tonight was the prim example of that to hey James uh as a spectator watching that final 5 minutes do you guys have at

The 220 run was crazy to watch but for you as a player what’s going through your guys’ head cuz I know by the end it kind of hit hit yall when you all started celebrating on the court after one of the dagger threes but just what’s going through your head during that

Run keep getting stops offensively I think we were getting whatever we want I think defensively it was just like at that point you got to guard your man you got to guard your because we are small so when you’re small like that um you know we don’t really have room

Protection you know what I mean so it starts on on ball defense so I think in the first three quarters we were kind of relying on our help side and things like that and then the fourth quarter we just said all you got to guard your man and

And and be the first uh first point of attack so for us you know that was the mindset and then when we kind of got gained our confidence it was over because we had confidence on the defensive end and offensively we just we got you know transition layups and dunks

And and three so um as a coaches mindset you like us start the game like that but U I’m just happy we got to win last question James I think it was late November when um TI said that he basically looked at the all Wing lineups the small lineups without Center and he

Wanted to use those as a last resort he didn’t like the way they were looking at that point tonight obviously the small lineup gets you guys back in the game did you guys feel like over the course of the last two months has things turned around for you guys that anything stood

Up encouragingly about the way you guys can play with small lineups again is it showing sign progress tonight was definitely or today was definitely one of one of those encouraging like moments um you know like this this this with basketball the season next like any season like things happen you know I

Mean whether it’s injuries whether whatever happens you know what I mean so for us I think just finding ways to continue to get better finding ways to win games you know whether it’s a small ball lineup whether it’s now okay zo is out who’s going to fulfill his role

Who’s going to contribute um okay you know what I mean we got to make an adjustment now we got to go small um you know so like it’s just things happen throughout the course of the year and the team that can that can pick up on

That and and find ways to win no matter what um you know you get yourself a chance to be the last team standing so for us we have a lot of different opportunities and and variety of matchups that we can that we can go with and tonight we went small ball and it

Paid off so uh we watch film get better and figure out how we can continue to get better with that small lineup and then um against switching teams thanks let’s get ready for hoop Jab

Los Angeles Clippers point guard James Harden speaks to the media following the Clippers 125-114 win over the Brooklyn Nets. Harden finished the game with 24 points, 10 assists, & 5 rebounds.