James Harden & Kawhi Leonard's New Remarks Highlight Belief in Clippers' Turnaround

The Los Angeles Clippers are starting to believe that they can turn the season around after back-to-back wins.

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Clippers are getting their groove back after impressive back-to-back wins over the Lakers and the Rockets. Even though they are still 8-21 and 13th in the Western Conference, the Clippers are trending up and only 3.5 games behind the tenth-seeded Portland Trail Blazers. In fact, the post-game remarks after Tuesday night's win against Houston suggest that the Clippers are starting to believe that they can turn things around.

After scoring 41 points on an impressive 16/23 from the field, Kawhi Leonard spoke to the media, including Joey Linn of the Clippers on SI, and said, "It’s a long season. So any time we put on this jersey, you gotta compete and try to win a basketball game. That’s what I’m taking pride in. I think everybody else is too. Win, lose, or draw… We don’t have a give up mentality. Even though the record looks like that." He also added that it doesn't matter that he scored 40, since all they care about is getting on the win column.

Leonard clearly still believes in this team's ability to win games. While he admits that the record doesn't look great, he believes that it doesn't reflect who they are as a team.

This was in line with what James Harden said after the game. The star point guard revealed his belief that the Clippers are better than their record, and said that they are hoping to get on a win streak with home games coming up.

James Harden on why the Clippers think they’re better than their record:

“Because we are. I don’t know what it feels like to be in this position with this record. So I always feel like we’re better than the record shows. So we got an opportunity these home games coming up to… pic.twitter.com/tVBzN8Kya4

— Joey Linn (@joeylinn_) December 24, 2025

Clippers Stars Inject Hope and Confidence into Fans After Consecutive Wins

This is the exact attitude Clippers fans hope to see from their superstars. As good as Harden and Leonard are, their leadership styles have long been criticized. They are not the most vocal leaders in the locker room, which could add a sense of being defeated when things are not going well. The back-to-back strong performances, however, seemed to have given a jolt to both stars.

Since Ty Lue announced a goal of going 35-20 for the rest of the way, the Clippers have gone 2-0, which should give them even more confidence heading into the new year.

While Ivica Zubac's injury certainly hurts the Clippers, they have an excellent chance of putting their money where their mouth is. After traveling to Portland to take on the Blazers on Friday, the Clippers have a five-game home stretch against the Pistons, Kings, Jazz, Celtics, and Warriors. They should be able to go at least .500 in these next six games to close the gap between themselves and the Play-In race.