James Harden sees 'unlimited possibilities' on star-studded LA Clippers after debut loss to New York Knicks

James Harden sees “unlimited possibilities” playing alongside Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Russell Westbrook, after the star-studded LA Clippers quartet lost their first outing together.

Harden made his debut for the Clippers on Monday after being traded from the Philadelphia 76ers.

He finished with 17 points and six assists in 31 minutes as the Clippers were beaten 111-97 by the New York Knicks.

Harden, Leonard, George and Westbrook all started together but didn't have immediate cohesion as the Clippers committed 22 turnovers which led to 35 Knicks points.

"I feel kind of weird out there," Harden said.

"But just not really having a pre-season game or an opportunity to participate in the full training camp or none of that. It was just [being] out there and just basically winging it. Try to go off my basketball instincts and what I've been doing for the last few years or whatnot.

“I just went out there and playing and thinking the game and trying to make the game easier for everybody else."

Asked about playing alongside Leonard, George and Westbrook, Harden added: “Unlimited possibilities.

“We had a solid three quarters. We couldn’t really catch a rhythm offensively. We missed a lot of easy shots that we’re gonna make. This game came down to one quarter, that fourth quarter.

“We gave opportunities. Turnovers and offence rebounds. That simple."

This was the first NBA game that Harden had played since May 14, having not featured for the 76ers before being traded.

“I was tired,” he admitted.

“It’s moving fast, but I mean, I got adjusted to it. It was going to take me a few games to kind of get used to the pace, but other than that, it was still basketball at the end of the day.”

Clippers head coach Ty Lue, who pulled his starters late in the fourth quarter, says he expects it will take 10 games for his star roster to find their rhythm together.

"It's going to be a process," Lue said.

"And I love the process we gotta go through to get to where we want to get to, and we're going to get there for sure. But just trying to keep everybody in rhythm, with four dynamic scorers, it's tough."

The Clippers next play the Brooklyn Nets, followed by the Dallas Mavericks in the In-Season Tournament.

Elsewhere, Bam Adebayo's triple-double helped the Miami Heat beat the Los Angeles Lakers 108-107.

Nikola Jokic also hit a triple-double as defending champions the Denver Nuggets came from 20 points down to overcome the New Orleans Pelicans 134-116.

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