Clippers, becoming experts at close games, lose a tight one to Portland

Four games into their season, and the Clippers only seem to know how to play close games.

It was tight against the Phoenix Suns in a loss and tight against the Denver Nuggets and Golden State Warriors in back-to-back victories.

On Wednesday night, the Clippers found themselves in another game that came down to the wire at Intuit Dome, a game L.A. was unable to pull out in losing 106-105 to the Portland Trail Blazers.

After Deandre Ayton gave the Trail Blazers a 106-105 lead, the Clippers failed to score again.

Ivica Zubac missed two free throws with 1:20 left, Norman Powell (30 points) had his shot blocked at the rim and James Harden (19 points, 10 assists) threw an inbound pass with 3.9 seconds left to Zubac that was intercepted by Ayton.

The Trail Blazers then ran out the clock to secure the win.

It meant the fans couldn’t cheer a win and that their biggest cheer of the night came just before the third quarter started, when fans inside Intuit Dome began waving towels, celebrating the news that the Dodgers had defeated the Yankees to win the World Series.

Despite the intercepted pass, the Clippers have full trust in Harden.

They trust him to make the right play. They trust him to make the right pass. They trust him to find open teammates. They trust them to be their leader.

And with Kawhi Leonard still out with right knee inflammation, the Clippers are leaning on Harden and trusting that he’ll lead the way.

So, when the game started and Harden found Norman Powell for a basket, then found Zubac running down the lane for a pass that led to two free throws and then found Terance Mann for a lob dunk, the Clippers knew once again that the ball was in the right man’s hands.

Harden had six assists in the first half, another sign of how much he’s in charge.

In fact, this is a season in which Harden has averaged 19.76 drives per 36 minutes and 93.0 touches per 36 minutes this season in the first three games for the Clippers.

Last season, he averaged 10.95 drives per 36 minutes, his lowest since the 2013-14 season, and 79.3 touches per 36 minutes, his lowest since 2014-15.

Much of that is because the Clippers had a mostly healthy Leonard and Paul George and Harden was not trying to demand the ball with his two All-Star teammates playing at a high level.

“Just a different team, different team, different circumstances,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “I think last year coming in just having PG and Kawhi, not wanting to step on anybody’s toes, coming to other players’ team and just trying to fit in. So, this year it has been totally different, and so, we need him to do a lot more scoring. We need the ball in his hands for his passing ability and making the plays. So, I think he feels good. We just got to see how it goes for the rest of the season.”

Harden is leading the NBA in assists, averaging 11.7 per game.

________