The Los Angeles Clippers left Spectrum Center on Saturday with a 131-116 win over the Charlotte Hornets, and they wouldn't have gotten the job done without a masterful 55-point game from James Harden. In pulling off this vintage performance, Harden proved what Clippers fans have been saying all along: that he's still good enough to carry this team offensively when he needs to.
Harden's double-nickel was the highest single-game scoring outing for any player in the history of the Clippers franchise. With Kawhi Leonard out of the lineup and a scrappy Hornets team across from them desperate for a win, Harden knew he had to dig deep.