James Harden is heating up at the right time, as he secured the Western Conference Player of the Week award just before the Clippers head to the playoffs.
Harden, 35, led the Clippers to a 4-0 record between April 7 and April 13, the time period in which statistics for this player of the week award were recorded. The team finished the regular season on an 8-game winning streak.
During the last four matchups of the season against the Spurs, Rockets, Kings and Warriors, Harden dropped 29.5 points, contributed 10.5 assists, 7.5 rebounds and notched 1.5 steals per game. He shot over 53% from the field, 48% from three-point range and missed just four free throws during those four games.
“The Beard” was the only NBA player to record such statistics last week, according to a Clippers media release.
Overall, this is James Harden’s 27th Player of the Week award of his career and the first he’s received since Feb. 2021, when he was on the Brooklyn Nets. It is the first time he won Player of the Week since he joined the Clippers in 2023.
The Clips finished with a 50-32 record, earning them a 5th seed in the playoffs; it is also Harden’s 16th straight postseason appearance.
The Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers also finished with the same record; according to NBA tiebreaker procedures, when three or more teams are tied at the end of the season, the division leader gets the highest seed over a team not leading their division.
In this year’s case, the Lakers clinched the Pacific Division title, leading them to be the 3rd seed and Denver to be the 4th seed.
Thus, the Clippers will face off against three-time MVP Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. The first matchup of the best-of-seven series takes place at Ball Arena in Denver on Saturday at noon PT.
