James Harden scores 17, looks solid in Clippers debut, but team does not in loss to Knicks

There were moments in James Harden's debut Monday where The Beard reminded everyone he is very good at basketball.

Harden put up a quality stat line of 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting, was 2-of-4 from 3 plus had six assists on the night.

He was also -18 in a game where the Clippers' new stars looked for a comfort level playing next to each other while Tyronn Lue experimented with lineups.

Meanwhile, the Knicks Julius Randle broke out of his early-season slump and dropped a team-high 27, RJ Barrett added 26 and the Knicks pulled away in the fourth quarter to get the win at home, 111-97.

For Harden and the Clippers, this is just the first step in the journey. Or, if you prefer use Tyronn Lue’s interesting phrasing of the Clippers next steps (via Law Murray of The Athletic).

"I love the process that we'll need to get to” Lue said.

You could see how the Clippers were trying to figure it out to start the game. With a starting five of Harden, Russell Westbrook, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard and Ivica Zubac, Harden played primarily off the ball in the first quarter and had zero shots but a couple of assists while Westbrook scored nine.

To start the second quarter, Harden took over for a stretch and scored seven quick points on 3-of-4 shooting.

Lue was clearly experimenting with lineups, and one thing seemed clear on this night — Westbrook and Harden were better when separated. Harden scored 15 of his 17 points when Westbrook was off the court. However, it’s hard to draw any conclusions until the injured Terance Mann rejoins the rotation (likely coming off the bench at first). There is no timeline yet for his return.

It was a grinding game that was not pretty at times. In the first half the teams combined to shoot 9-of-35 from 3 and the Clippers had 10 turnovers but the Knicks topped that with 11.

Those kinds of games are where Tom Thibodeau’s teams tend to thrive.

The Knicks found a groove they have been missing for the first couple weeks of the season — in part because Randle started scoring — but Mitchell Robinson added 13 and Donte DiVincenzo had a dozen off the bench. The win improves the Knicks to 3-4.

New York knows who and what it is, even if the team hasn’t been playing like that much of the season.

The Clippers are just starting to figure it out, and Lue said the next 10 games would be an experiment. If they keep getting this version of Harden, the Clippers will win a few of those, too.