46 minutes and 35 seconds, this is Harden's determination

One James has gone home, and the other James is still holding on.

At the moment when G4G5 suffered two consecutive slumps and his reputation fell to the bottom, Harden regained his confidence in today's life-and-death battle, and his fans did not completely lose the right to speak throughout the summer.

In case you don't know, Harden has suffered five consecutive defeats in his career in the game of loss and elimination, and the last win was in the 2020 playoffs, when the Rockets eliminated the Thunder in a tiebreaker. Today's sixth game gnawed the Nuggets, and Harden finally ended this embarrassing record.

Compared with the hesitation in the previous game, Harden scored a transition offensive layup in the first quarter of the first quarter, indicating Harden's desire to attack today. In the face of the package given by the Nuggets, Harden is still a pass-first player. But when it was time to attack, Harden didn't hesitate today.

This is also the puzzling thing about Harden in the last game, Harden lacked vitality throughout the game, and was even hatted by Jordan Jr. Harden, who had a second spring in the regular season, and Harden, who proved himself in the playoffs, should not have ended this season hastily, so Harden woke up in time.

After scoring 4 points and 3 assists in the first quarter, Harden fully turned on offensive mode in the second quarter. He scored 17 points in a single quarter, made 2 of 3 three-pointers, and beat the Nuggets inside and outside. Of course, Harden scored 21 points in the half, and Jokic on the opposite side also scored 20 points in the first half, which was equal.

Harden's biggest determination today was the determination of "this is the last game of the season", and played 46 minutes and 35 seconds in the whole game, only resting 1 minute and 25 seconds at the end of the first quarter, and playing all the second, third and fourth quarters without a second of rest. So when Harden's final slip came up, I understood him.

Harden can be said to have given it his all, even if he loses today and ends the season, the wind review he gets will definitely be much higher than after the game. Attacking to drive teammates is the right way to open, if you only pass and don't attack at the beginning, you will definitely get worse and worse in the end.

Today, Harden scored 28 points and 8 assists, and the small card scored 27 points and 10 rebounds (the small card in this series is basically stable 20+, and there is a game of 39 points), and Powell finally recovered and scored a series-high 24 points. But the X-factor for the Clippers today, is the other two.

Zubac only scored 10 points, but his one-on-one defense against Jokic was the best of his career. When Zubac was the primary defender today, Jokic shot 5-of-14, including 1-of-8 in the second half. Jokic's second-half smut was largely due to Zubac's solid defense.

In the last minute, it was the round that decided the game, Jokic released the ball and broke through without deceiving Zubac, and after turning around, Zubac did not lose his position at all, and twice gave Jokic a full fight, causing Jokic to lose that low-handed layup.

Zubac, the DPOY and the most improved player this season, both ended up missing, but he was the Clippers' own best defensive player. Being able to contain an offensive monster like Jokic is enough for Zubac to be proud of.

Batum, who subdued the dragon and subdued the tiger, once again staged today what is called "the data does not reflect his role at all". Batum only had 6 points and 5 rebounds in the whole game, but at the same time, he also had 6 assists, 3 blocks and 2 steals, showing his presence on the court all the time.

G3 Batum played 27 minutes in this series, and the Clippers won. G4G5 Batum only played 19 and 21 minutes, respectively, and the Clippers lost both games. So Tyronn Lue also figured it out today, and today Batum started directly in the second half in place of Dunn, and the second half was full of playing time.

Batum can shoot three-pointers, pass the ball and provide assists, contribute on the defensive end, and even top Jokic when Zubac isn't on the floor. When Batum was on the court, the Clippers' defensive intensity, size, and offensive space were all excellent, and he shot 40% of three-point shooting in six games, what else could he not do?

When he announced his retirement from the national team last summer, I thought his basketball career was coming to an end and returning to the Clippers was a symbolic return. Unexpectedly, he became a key figure in the playoffs to turn the tide of the team again.

So this round of the series still played to Game 7 as many people thought, Jokic played two consecutive series to tie-breaks, and he lost to Edwards in the last game. If he loses the tiebreaker for the second year in a row, will Jokic have something special to think about, especially in the context of the team's turmoil this season.

Against the backdrop of World War I, we don't know if Harden will be able to maintain the vitality he is today. But what is certain is that Harden is already determined to put everything on the line, and when talking about the possibility of playing another 46 minutes in the tiebreaker, Harden said:

'I have to do it no matter what the team needs, it's 47 minutes, 48 minutes, extra time, whatever, I'm going to do it.'

The opportunity was right in front of him, and he had to think about whether this would be the only chance he had in his life.