I apologize for this wholly unoriginal thought, but I’m thinking right now that Ben McLemore/Austin Rivers/Chris Clemons as a combined triumvirate is a better fit with James Harden than Russell Westbrook is. My views are not at all tainted by the fact that those three combined for 58 points in this game while Westbrook sat out due to some sort of injury (I’m guessing he pulled a muscle while trying to statpad).
Ben McLemore might be the best fit of all. Those other two dudes have some issues that make them slightly less useful combined with Harden (Rivers can’t really shoot, and Clemons wants the ball so much that he’s a risk to maim/kill Harden). McLemore, though, he doesn’t need the ball, he’s perfectly happy to run to some spot along the three-point arc and shoot it when open. Or, if for some reason defenses figure that out, he can theoretically go into the paint for a dunk. He used to be pretty athletic once upon a time, don’t you know. I’ve got the dunkilation backed up on my hard drive to prove it.
Okay, fine, I’m totally overreacting to this string of two good games by McLemore. But I don’t think I can be blamed, because who wouldn’t overreact to a guy, who many thought was going to be out of the league, scoring 20+ points in back-to-back games? The redemption tour continues, though it continues to be obscured by Harden’s ridiculous statistical feats.