James Harden keeps the Clippers afloat against the Dallas Mavericks

DALLAS — If Bad Takes Exposed was a basketball game, it was the Clippers’ 116-111 victory over the Dallas Mavericks in Game 4 of their best-of-seven matchup.

“If (the goal) is a championship, I don’t know,” one scout told The Athletic following the Clippers’ November trade for James Harden of the Philadelphia 76ers. “It seems like it adds more to what they have: scoring and handling the ball.”

Another scout: “Honestly, I don’t know if James fits in anywhere – like any team.”

There was coverage from CBS: “The Clippers take huge risks while the 76ers win big.”

And so on. Be honest, You most likely didn’t like the trade – Harden and PJ Tucker for Robert Covington, Nicolas Batum, Marcus Morris, KJ Martin, a few first-round picks, a swap of first-round picks and two second-round picks – when he finally happened after four months of open and seemingly endless deliberations.

And that was before the Clippers lost their first six games with Harden in the lineup — and long before announcing they had lost Kawhi Leonard indefinitely to right knee inflammation, and hours later blew an entire 31-point lead in a playoff game, finding themselves facing a potential abyss of 3-1.

The final two parts of the story played out Sunday at the American Airlines Center, where Leonard’s latest grim diagnosis was followed by what would have been a historic and heartbreaking collapse on the field, had it stood.

Hadn’t Harden been there to keep the Clippers afloat. If Harden hadn’t been there, lobbing in one, two, three… five skillfully executed floaters during the critical period of the fourth quarter, when the lead was exchanged twice and the score was tied twice and the stars of both teams had every fan tuned in on the absolute edge of their seat.

If Harden hadn’t been there to trade the baton with Paul George, who got off to a hot start, scoring 26 of his 33 points in the first half, and then helped Harden to the victory. George’s beautiful rainbow 3-pointer from the corner gave the Clippers the lead for good, 107-105, with 1:55 to play.

It would be so different now if Harden wasn’t here to fill Leonard’s lane with his own unique systematic styles – as he put it.

Remember when he was introduced on Nov. 2 and uttered the Clippers’ first cool catchphrase since “Lob City”: “I’m not a system player, I’m a system,” Harden said then.

On Sunday, in front of 20,411 screaming, deafening Dallas fans, Harden gave the class a visual lesson in what he meant.

He distributed, finishing with seven assists. He hit from the outside, going 4 for 5 from 3-point range. He of course got to the free throw line and went 5-for-5 from the score.

And then, when the walls closed in, he willingly opened them again with his soft touch around the rim, scoring 15 points in the fourth quarter — the most by a Clippers in the final period of a postseason game since that Montrezl Harrell had 16 against. the Mavericks in Game 5 in 2020, a game they won, 154-111.

Harden showed up on Sunday, as he has in every series, becoming the Clippers’ most consistent threat while Leonard tried in vain to battle his knee inflammation and George struggled to get going offensively and face Dallas’ dynamic guards without committing a foul. .

After scoring 33 points on Sunday, Harden is averaging 26 per game heading into Game 5 on 54.1% shooting, including 50% from 3-point range.

“For me, it’s the adjustment,” Professor Harden explained after the victory. “Offensively, I had the 3-ball. But if they want to try to take the 3-ball away from them; I get to the paint and I have my midrange or I have the floater. Or if they want to come and help me excessively, then I have my death. So it’s a four-step process that you need to think about. Everything happens so quickly and most of the time I make the right decision.

It didn’t happen quickly, but the Clippers made the right decision.

“That’s what James is here for,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said before the announcement. “When PG or Kawhi or one of our top dogs is out, being able to step in and substitute and score the basketball, make plays for the other guys, make it easier for Norm (Powell) and Zu (Ivica Zubac) and Mace (Mason Plumlee) and those guys.