[Run It Back] Lou Williams on why Chris Paul was sent home by the LA Clippers: “CP3 was holding players and coaches accountable… he was critical of the front office… that was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
Isn’t that the point of having a vet presence lmao?
This is the one team in the league that needs less veteran presence. It’s sad that they’re reacting like this, though.
Kawhii was the downfall.
Couldve ran it back. Genuinely think a Lakers / Raptors bubble chip woulda been close
I think if Kawhi stayed then Green also would have stayed or I am mistaken? So our team would have been worse.
He 100% would’ve stayed.
Raptors were our bogey team that season.
With Kawhi and DG still with them, I think they win in 6.
They would’ve been absolutely insane. Their winning % was higher in 2020 than 2019. You add Kawhi, and that’s a legit juggernaut for a few years.
Pat McCaw goin ham lol
Retires into the sunset after 5 seasons 5 chips
I don’t think Kawhi particularly likes or cares about basketball beyond the money it brings him. He’s only ever flirted with being on team USA, never playing in any game of importance, he skips so many games, he gets the underhanded deals to maximize his money.
He wanted to be in LA and he wanted the most money he could get, I don’t know if he’s particularly broken up by it playing out like it has. He plays to win, obviously, but that’s in pursuit of more money via endorsements and deals, IMO. Board man gets paid.
i think he absolutely loved basketball as much as anyone can up until injuries started robbing him of his joy for it
coming into san antonio he was an athletic freak with a nonexistent jumpshot and raw potential. by the time he left he was one of the best players in the league, you have to put in an insane amount of work to get to that point which imo is impossible if you don’t love it
His reaction after “The Shot” in game 7 against Philly is a very strong argument against him not loving basketball. Clown take off the day right there bro.
Gasol wouldn’t have gotten fat in the off season too. He knew it was over.
Nah, that was a common belief at the time, but really he was gone either way. He was waiting on Kawhi to see if the Lakers were gonna have the space to sign him, the Mavs were the backup team.
Ya’ll should’ve had a tree company gift him 50mil then. Apparently there are no repercussions for paying player under the table through shell companies
We tried, but he didn’t accept it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_XpsVujmp4
Fucking hilarious dude should do it again when the clippers play in Toronto lmao
or even option B him & Uncle Dennis wouldn’t have fucked w the Spurs and stayed with them- keeping them competitive & he would’ve retired a franchise legend
altho i’m sure Spurs fans are happy he left them since they drafted top 4 3 years in a row but that’s just w the benefit of hindsight
With his injury history and how much of a thieving scumbag he is, good riddance. The worst part is just the hurt of ending the Tim/Tony/Manu era like that tbh. Spurs were transitioning seamlessly into the new timeline and era before he fucked them over
And now they are transitioning into a better timeline.
I do wonder sometimes if Kawhi regrets leaving Toronto
Like you had a whole country behind you and you could still visit family in CA anytime you want. Why would you want mess that up
He never wanted to be in Canada at the end of the day, it’s not about basketball he wanted to go home.
Could have stayed another season and left
His career likely would have been so much better off
Given His injury history delaying getting to free agency an extra year would be colossally dumb
Nah, he is happy in LA. He is home. I think thats all he wanted really. That was the whole story about him with the Spurs, Pop was probably annoyed with him and Dennis and just decided to send him away as far as possible from home.
Gave up an opportunity to be a franchise legend in his prime, and he’ll never get the opportunity back
I like to think he regrets it, that the Clippers regret it and that OKC are laughing all the way to favorites for running it back because of him
being a toronto raptor legend is not a priority like it would seem to be for us fans. playing in your home area, weather, $$$$$$, control over a franchise might all be way more important than having fan support and being a franchise icon
We went into staples and beat them before the bubble and beat them again in the bubble. We were a huge problem for the lakers. If pascal didn’t forget how to play in the bubble we woulda won. We took a good Boston team to seven with pascal playing horribly.
With the benefit of hindsight, Raptors would have almost certainly repeated as champs. Kawhi as the best player on that team would probably have leapt into the top 20 of all time with another chip & Finals MVP.
Instead he aspired for salary cap fraud, one of the greatest “What If?” events in hoops history.
Feels like Karma after the recent scandal
Just sucks to think about the hype and promise around this org 6 years ago compared to now. And it will only look worse and worse as OKC turns our picks into more studs
Guy seems sorta like a cancer. He gets away with it cause he’s quiet.
Also I can’t think of two guys that age that are less likely to hold themselves accountable than Kawhi and Harden. Like it must be nice living in LA otherwise Harden woulda started packing on the pounds by now.
He switched from wings to sushi at the gentleman’s clubs.
the double standard is weird. why allow kawhii to do crazy things and break league rules for him but chris paul being vocal is a problem
One is your best chance of a title, and one isn’t. Simple.
Not sure harden and kawhi are the best veteran role models
Harden sort of maybe is. At least he mentors on court, not sure off court. Kawhi is a bum in being a role model.
That’s why Claxton and Maxey always speak down on Harden, right?
It’s Chris Paul, he probably went about things the wrong way like usual.
Too many cooks uncs in the kitchen unction
Doesn’t work when you have a team full of vets that are accomplished in so many ways. They aren’t open to criticism like younger guys are. It’s why CP was loved in places like the OKC and Phoenix where he was the Vet all the young guys looked up to and had immense respect for.
Except the only one truly accomplished is Kawhi. The rest have had great careers but never figured out how to break through and win when it mattered.
Thats also true of CP3 tho. He never won shit. Excluding Kawhi, the clippers have a team full of veterans that never won shit, and the one who currently sucks the most is telling everyone around him they suck. Of course he got sent packing. Nobody wants to hear that from the worst player on the team.
Kawhi is fucked if he’s held accountable
That was Haslem role in his last 6 years, and players, coaches and fans were totally fine with it.
That’s because Arison, Riley, and Spo run an actual organization and not a clown show like Ballmer, Lawrence Frank, and Ty Lue.
Yeah that’s the whole point. I’m sure CP3 did the same last year with the Spurs, btw. The reaction was pretty much the opposite than what we’re seeing from the Clippers.
Haslem grew with the organization, so it’s easy to listen to him as an example. This Clippers team has changed drastically since CP3 was there
Yea but it’s cp so u know he did it in a toxic wayc
I dunno, he was an amazing team player last year with the Spurs.
I’ve hated him all his career but his year with us, a year in which injuries killed any hope of not sucking badly, made me reconsider.
Castle owes him big time, for instance.
No, their job apparently is to be giggly and friendly with everybody. That’s why Deandre Jordan is still in the league…
LAC is a “yes sir” org
Easy mistake to make, but the Clippers zag when everyone else zigs and therefore pay their veterans to not be present.
Yeah but he was probably being a cunt about it.
It really depends on how and what he said
Clippers: We sent CP3 home because he wanted to win
Genuinely what the fuck did they expect when they signed him if this is true?
Based on comments by Frank during the offseason, they seemed to have expected Paul to fall in line and be a good soldier. Which was hilarious at the time and is even more hilarious now.
Chris Paul is a lot of things but being a guy who quietly falls in line is not one, and the Clippers decision makers should’ve known better.
Are you serious ?
This is insane, how can someone not know what to expect from a guy who has been playing in NBA for 21 years…
Especially when he was already on the team for six seasons, Lawrence Frank was there for five of those seasons, and that stint deteriorated for pretty much the same reasons.
Edit: Also worth mentioning that Chris Paul’s stint in Houston with Harden ended for similar reasons too.
Not to mention a guy who has announced his up coming retirement and who wants to make one last swing at competing for a title.
He made it sound like the most important thing to him this year was to be close to his family in LA, and since the Lakers weren’t interested/didn’t have a roster spot for him, that just left the Clippers by process of elimination.
This the same guy who argued with the refs over a foul on Barnes AFTER he hit a genuine game-winner on the Warriors just last season.
Sounds like they’re being run like a Silicon Valley startup. All they think they have to do is sell promise that that this team COULD potentially do something but sports fans aren’t VCs
God the lights really are too fucking bright for this team
Street lights over spot lights, amirite guys?
Street lights for ants?
Street lights dim enough that they’re perfect for backstabbing your franchise legend in an alley*
Mark Sanchez just felt like someone walked over his grave.
I mean, OKC fans don’t want them winning at all, so thank you Frank. Maybe we can give CP3 a consolation spot on our team?
OKC fans don’t want them winning at all
same here. but no picks involved, I’m just a hater.
I mean OKC getting even beefier will most likely have an effect on Jokic winning more rings
Did not align with the core Clipper poverty franchise values.
Streetlights over spotlights. Spotlights are for winners.
We all see this in our jobs everyday. People who keep their heads down stay employed. People who try to shake shit up and progress things get ostracized and punished
Yup. Unless your production far exceeds everyone else, then you are invincible. Not the case for cp3 anymore.
exactly. he’s not good enough anymore to get away w it.
There was a sales rep I worked with who go away with both sexual harassment once, and saying racial slurs on recorded meeting multiple times, all reported to HR. Didn’t get fired because he was bringing in like 3x his quota. The year he had a normal year dude was predictably canned.
that is insane, but also not surprising. $ makes the world go round.
C.R.E.A.M.
FWIW, a couple years ago our #1 sales guy got reported for sexual harassment and we still shitcanned him and had to take a big revenue hit.
Companies acting morally is never on my bingo card but I’m happy to hear it
Lawsuit can easily out weigh all of his sales.
Exactly! Not to mention a pr hit depending on the case
similar story here. top rep at my company was crushing quota every quarter. I found out through another coworker he was sexually harassing her AND told her in the process that he was paying his clients via venmo to sign deals before end of quarters. I reported the whole thing with receipts to HR. didn’t get fired. I left in 2020. he got fired in 2023 when he finally didn’t hit quota.
A chef at this restaurant I worked at had the best/fastest hands all while making the plates look like ones they use to take photos. An actual wizard with it he just had the gift. Those are very hard to come by.
Was one of the biggest POS assholes to women. He got fired because he threw a tray at a girl who he was arguing with. All the horrible things he would say was dismissible but not physical stuff thank god
Consider Luka Doncic though…
And then… After you are proved right in the long-run - absolutely no one remembers that you were the only one fighting against the utterly failed shit everyone else was pushing! But, they sure as hell do remember that you’re the asshole who fought against them.
exactly. Almost never pays off to be the trailblazer
Hell ya, cp3 is just like me.
The only culture Clippers have is corporate culture. CP3 is all about the actual game. He wants to win. They want money.
People who don’t watch the video will miss Lou saying “for some reason I was up” at 3 something in the morning, which is pretty great.
was getting chicken wings at a local establishment
Lemon Pepper Lou
Lou’s a man of the people supporting very late hour local establishments.
“Talked to a few people to find out…”
I turned to my left and ask bro, turned to my right and asked bro lmao.
I just assumed he’s up at 3am more often than he is at 10am
I’d figure that’s incredibly common among people who don’t need to work, or who work when normal workers are off work.
Good guy Lou just paying some strangers’ college tuition
Hey now they’re at least acquaintances at this point
Lmaoooo
Best part of the video!
If it’s anything like me it’s because he’s was playing video games and lost track of time.
Lou Williams doing more actual reporting than any modern NBA reporter is genuinely a hilarious state of the media
Yup. There aren’t any great reporters covering the Clippers.
No Clippers scandals being uncovered by reporters.
Torre isn’t really an NBA reporter - he’s kind of a sports/general news reporter who used to cover the NBA and now does occasionally
Could of stopped after reporters, all nba reporters are paid out by teams and the league. Will always hide the truth if it benefits the organization or league
well it makes sense. sports reporting or insiders is just having relationships in the organization and dressing it up for the media. people who were in that circle arguably can have an easier and more fluid insight and time doing this. before it was just glamorized ‘journalism’ outside of a few great story tellers like Jackie Mac and the like, but reporting is just connections-lou can definitely do that better w locker room connections.
also, lou doesnt age
The record at the end of the season might not show it. But this might end up being the single most devastating season for an NBA team in history. Starting from the Ballmer salary cap circumvention story and probably ending with no hope for the future it has been a descent to hell.
Thats honestly the least worrying thing for the team. Clips contending dreams were closed shut last year (dark horse at best).
Having to rebuild while a dynasty happens is fine but holy shit, they refuse to sell peices and do it.
Hellbent on just grabbing whatever free agents they can for what? To scoot into play-ins and get knocked out in the first round?
Someone needs to tell Ballmer its time to let this era go. I would unironically have more fun watching a bunch of no names play hard for 4 quarters and lose than whatever the fuck they do now.
The problem is Clippers fans are going to stop attending games the moment the tank starts, and he wants to recoup the Intuit Dome money ASAP
Idk how people are attending now. Its unwatchable.
Descent is a light way to put it. This was a catastrophic plummet
Mavericks were in the Finals before last year lmfao.
Keep it up and you’ll top the Suns big 3 failure of the last 2 years.. I’m not sure what’s the line to pass the Kobe nash Dwight failure era
They got to the finals bro. It’s not even close to as bad as the clippers since PG trade. One weak WCF lol
This is the most hyperbolic statement ever posted in the history of reddit (not counting this one).
I’m curious if the NBA will let the Clippers off with a relative slap on the wrist for the Aspiration stuff simply because the franchise will be in such, such bad shape when it comes time to punish them.
And that says a lot in a league where the Mavs gave up a top 5 player for peanuts.
If anyone knows it’s Lou, this whole thing is Frank & Lue doing a Hail Mary to save their jobs. Ballmer fucked up allowing this to happen. Sad day to be a fan of this franchise, sorry ass season got worse.
The shocking part is that Ballmer allowed it to happen. With all he’s done to try and turn the image of the franchise around, this seems so crazy to me.
In the 2020s we have learned that billionaires aren’t that smart.
Exactly. The discourse about NBA owners often falls into something like “owners are rich, rich people have to be smart, so therefore owners are smart.” But we have tons of evidence that being smart and being rich have nothing to do with one another.
And being smart in one field doesn’t carry over to others
I’m still confused why we let them not only hoard all our money, but destroy the planet too. They are lucky and not smart. Humans are so stupid man
All he’s done? He went out of his way to convince Blake griffin to sign that deal promising loyalty and a jersey retirement then immediately traded him to the pistons for some picks and Tobias Harris lol They had a tough group of role players and SGA and he sold it all to try and buy a ring with Kawhi and PG. Then he tried to buy a ring by cheating the CBA
Ballmer has been terrible for the league and the clippers
Ballmer needs to be axed from the league but that won’t happen
aftet that then anyone over 10 figured needs to be axed from life, but that won’t happen either lol
Ballmer is my aspiration.
I too wanna fail at the leadership position for every corporation i work at, continue to be rewarded for my failure, and not have to face consequences because i am close to ownership/am the ownership.
This is a pretty casual take re: Ballmer. He doubled revenue and tripled profits. He missed on mobile but funded cloud pivot. Microsoft still throws off cash in the enterprise because of the moats he dug.
Microsoft was the dominant monopoly through the early internet era, with a TON of talent bringing revolutionary ideas.
Ballmer didn’t just miss the rise of the smartphone and APP market allowing Apple to return, but he fumbled the search market that led to the rise of Google. He was also LATE on cloud, coming after Amazon and Google. His first model didn’t even had VM support.
There were so many trillion dollar opportunities during his tenure that he absolutely missed with that many resources and the head start Microsoft had.
Doubling revenue and tripled profits is pathetic for how many chances he got.
The “he missed everything” angle only works in hindsight.
Microsoft was never structurally built to win phones or search. Apple’s rise was vertical hardware. Google’s rise was an ad funded free product model. Those weren’t natural extensions of Microsoft’s enterprise DNA.
Cloud wasn’t an obvious trillion dollar layup. AWS came from Amazon’s unique scaling needs. Microsoft had to unwind decades of licensing and ops assumptions. Azure’s early flaws don’t change that Ballmer funded the platform Nadella later scaled.
And surviving platform shifts is not automatic. BlackBerry, Nokia, Sun, Yahoo, and HP all had dominant positions and still collapsed. Ballmer kept Windows, Office, and the enterprise stack wildly profitable while holding the company together through massive industry change.
If that’s failure, most CEOs would love to fail like that.
Microsoft was never structurally built to win phones or search.
Yes, because Ballmer was the head and he refused to innovate because he couldn’t “see” the growth opportunities, despite many internal engineers pushing for them in the first place.
Hence, why we are talking about him being a disappointment in the first place.
There was a popular inside joke amongst old Microsoft engineers when Ballmer finally left, and bought the Clippers, that he’ll spend the next decade fumbling chances there too despite his immense wealth and “technological know-how”. Turned out far too accurate.
Saying Microsoft missed phones and search because Ballmer “refused to innovate” ignores how deep the company’s enterprise incentives already ran. That culture was entrenched long before him and crushed most consumer bets no matter who sponsored them. Nokia, BlackBerry, HP, Sun, and Yahoo all had brilliant engineers and still got wiped out by the same platform shifts. Insight wasn’t the issue. Structural inertia was.
Internal jokes aren’t evidence. The outcome is. Microsoft was the only pre internet giant to survive the 2000s with its core businesses growing and a cloud platform ready to scale the moment strategy changed.
If that’s disappointment, most CEOs would take that outcome in a heartbeat.
So you were working for Microsoft when it was handed over to Ballmer? What kind of changes did you perceive or hear about, or what were Ballmer’s priorities during that time?
That all depended on where you were in the organization. It was like something like 80k people globally at that point. I was in mobile and embedded product group during the transition (and my last stop at the company). I was helping to get windows ce in all the consumer bets we were making. Mobile, Xbox, Zune, HD-DVD, etc. that you’ve heard of but some other shit you probably haven’t (went to ecs one year demoing a music store in a gas pump). I had friends scattered all over the company in different roles. My friend in their IT group was the guy who really experienced changes during this period. They went from an odd group that supported our windows updates to the foundation of the company cash cows. Culturally the company was becoming way more professional and the talent wasn’t nearly as spoiled vs the time I joined a few years earlier. DOJ really fucked up the party for us. Google knew this and poached the top end of talent pool when they opened their Seattle offices offering old perks that had been phased out at Microsoft. Free towels in the company showers was a dog whistle for disgruntled talent in Seattle that wanted to go back to the frat house.
You should go read about that time in corporate and home computing because your comment is lacking in an entire library of context
That’s an interesting suggestion. I was at Microsoft when Gates handed the reins to Ballmer. I lived it.
Lou is such a pro’s pro. Stayed up past 3am to get that lemon pepper last night, yet still made it to the show in the morning to deliver his insider news.
What does Ty Lue wanting to keep his job have to do with the team releasing CP3?
Like did he go to the front office & go “ Yo CP3 is holding us accountable release him”
My guess is, Lue being close to CP3, sent him to get the guys in order.
Honestly the clippers needed someone to do for years, Kawhi has been a horrible leader that goes against Lue’s coaching practices pretty often. So many stories about how Kawhi just refuses to do parts of practice or just skips out entirely mid game. Harden probably beats to him drum too.
But that might be too little too late.
Frank cutting CP3 off, was probably trying to cut Lue down to size. Players probably grumbling in the background and good ol’ office politics with Frank trying to secure his job amidst the horrible results hoping Lue losing his gig instead of him is enough “sacrifice”.
I think it’s much simpler than this: CP3 called out Kawhi in front of the team, called out the front office for giving him the leeway to not be held accountable – and Kawhi / Uncle Dennis didn’t want to hear it, told Frank to get CP outta there.
Ya that def sounds like something CP3 would say lmao. 😭
I can’t believe he didn’t realize that the franchise isn’t trying to win game, its trying to launder money for Kawhi
Welcome to the “fanbase that hates your own team and wants them to fail” club Clippers fans.
Truly have become the Angels of the NBA.
As a Laker fan from OC, this comment sent me
Imagine being a former Mavs fan, switching to the Clippers, then this shit happens
I’d just stop watching basketball lmao
Former Mavs fans would probably switch to Lakers before they switch to Clippers. You know, due to a certain European guy.
You know, due to a certain European guy.
I don’t think Hayes has Slovenian citizenship yet. Oh wait, you mean Maxi Kleber.
Those 5 fans must be incredibly upset
i heard he also said to kawhi “you not funny bro”
That’s where I draw the line. Uhhhh huh huh huh huh huh
UHHEAHEAHEAH
I heard that Kawhi was having his “Apple Time” and when he sat down with a knife and fork to cut up and eat his apples CP3 took one and ate it whole without using a knife and fork.
Unfortunately now CP3 needs to smoke some cigarettes because he accidentally swallowed an apple seed while his friends were trying to get a cat out of a wall.
He just needs to put more cats in the wall to flush it out
“You are not a fun guy.” 😡
That’s what a vet is supposed to do lol
Oh so they wanted a vet but not THAT kind of vet
Ballmer wants to instigate the apOKCalypse?
lol. If we win another chip and get a top 5 pick, this is going on a Tshirt.
He probably loves that people are talking about that and not aspiration
Reasonable crash out. Hope Chris ends up somewhere that matches his energy. He doesn’t deserve to get treated like the perpetrator when he just wants to win basketball games.
If we didn’t have crazy guard depth I’d love to have him back
Chris Paul is…
A professional who holds people accountable and has a winner’s mentality
A habitual nut-slapper who could never win an NBA championship
It’s weird how both can be true.
His prime happened to overlap with some of the strongest contenders of all time.
Let’s not act like he was making the finals and losing to Lebron or the Warriors every year, the clippers were an early out almost every year against all kinds of teams
And then he took the KD Warriors to 7, and it took him hurting his hanstring, and the rockets missing 27 straight 3’s to lose. And then he led the Suns to the finals just to be bounced by one of the most impressive finals’ preformances ever in Giannis. CP3 is one of the greatest point guards ever, and the Clipper’s Goat. He did not deserve to be treated like this.
Unironically, having fucking Doc Rivers as the coach wasted some amazing Clippers years. Imagine a halfway decent coach in charge of those CP3-Griffin-DeAndre Jordan-Redick teams.
CP3 and Tyson Chandler were incredible in New Orleans in 2008. They raced the prime Kobe/Pau Lakers for the 1 seed in a stacked West all season, then fell to the prime Spurs in 7 games as a 2 seed.
Paul played in a very very competitive West for his whole career.
He’s notoriously abrasive, he wasn’t playing that much, and without thoroughly checking this is the worst team he’s ever been on. He was probably being a dick and at the same time the Clippers have been worth some harsh words.
Crazy cause clippers have no incentive to tank this year, they just suck.
Chris Paul: “Stop paying players under the table.”
Clippers: “It is time for you to go home.”
lmao guess we can say goodbye to the Lou Will appearances in Clippers promos now too
You know it’s egregious when even boogie is siding with cp3
I imagine giving the defending champs a top 5 pick in a year you’re supposes to be contending doesn’t feel good, but this is the most Charmin soft thing I’ve ever seen. This will ruin the orgs reputation for years
holding people accountable
Clippers:
“we don’t do that here”
CP3 first mistake was expecting excellence from a poverty riddled franchise
Jokes aside, this move might’ve certified Clippers as the worst organization of this generation. I thought what Celtics did to IT was bad, but man Clippers doing this is beyond insane.
His contract is the minimum and it’s guaranteed, he’s still getting paid. They’re not even saving money or getting a better player out of it. It defies any and every sense of reason
Was he pissing off players or coaches and the FO? Because unless it was causing issues with the players a coach and gm who aren’t going to be there next season shouldn’t be leaving the roster at 13 because a player hurt their feelings by saying the team sucks.
Honestly - even tho cp3 is washed, I wouldn’t mind Lakers taking him on. Our team goofs off too much and while Marcus smart can hold the role players accountable. Who’s going to hold Luka, LeBron accountable? Cp3 can
Chris Paul went in there cursing like Kobe. Treated them how Kobe treated Mitch and he’s not Kobe and the Clippers aren’t the Lakers.
This is the franchise that wanted to dethrone the Lakers as “LA’s team”?
Bruh it’s malpractice someone with work ethic lik CP3 was banished to the Clippers. Truly a wasted career. Wasted greatness.
I mean that was the obvious explanation
How does this look bad for Chris Paul lmfao
Keep planting trees
We know James harden wasnt trying to hear that shit. I forgot they played together before until now and that he had cp3 shipped out.
If a bad look was an NBA franchise
You know why you were up at 3am in Atlanta lmao
clippers front office is a bitch lmao. cant take criticism
Clippers gonna clip
F the Clippers
He hurt Kawhi and Harden’s feelings.
Terrible. Anything but that!!
Apparently, having standards is too much for the Clippers organisation
Basically CP3 kept it real and the Clips took it as bitching… Smh Paul doesn’t deserve this.
There was probably nothing actually wrong with what CP3 said, but when the team is losing, how the team built sucks and everyone knows it, then a guy like CP3 piling it on and making a difficult situation worse probably doesn’t help. Not to be soft, but a lot of people need a positive attitude to continue working hard in a difficult environment
And if Harden didn’t like CP3s criticisms when they were winning in Houston, he probably hates it even more now