James Harden and the Los Angeles Clippers were knocked out of Beantown by the Boston Celtics 126-94 on Monday night. After the middle of the second quarter, the competition was no longer particularly intense, as the Celtics were able to score up to 32 points and at least 15 points in the last 30 minutes of the game.

After the second game of a back-to-back set, Harden said it was just one of those games.

James Harden reacts to the Clippers’ loss to Celtics

James Harden finished Monday’s game with a near triple-double, consisting of 19 points, eight rebounds and nine assists in 30 minutes of play. Ivica Zubac added 23 points and 10 rebounds for a Clippers team rocked by insane three-point shooting.

“They have shooters,” Harden said. “Of course it’s the defending champions.” “We have a back-to-back duel.” They’re a great team, we didn’t really have time for game plans. They beat us in the mouth and it was one of those games.

“We didn’t get any stops. We still had chances, but we couldn’t stop them. We got off to a good start and in the second quarter they basically overwhelmed us.”

The Celtics led 27-20 after a quarter in which the Clippers competed admirably.

Boston shot 12 of 17 from three in the second quarter, setting a new franchise record and an NBA record for three-pointers made in a single quarter. As a team, the Celtics shot 17 of 24 from the field and outscored the Clippers 51-29 in the period.

“The Celtics are one of the best offenses we have in this league, if not the best,” Harden added. “They shoot a lot of threes, they force you to huddle, they make layups, and for us we had some good calls, so just watch the film, get better and keep going.”

In the first month of the season, James Harden has experienced a significant amount of double-teams as opponents look to take the ball out of his hands more. Through 19 games, Harden has an assist percentage of 39.7 percent, which is higher than players like LaMelo Ball, Tyrese Haliburton and Giannis Antetokounmpo, while trailing only LeBron James, Chris Paul, Nikola Jokic and Trae Young.

“Teams protect me a little differently in the sense that they try to have two on the ball, show bodies and things like that. “So if I want to be aggressive, most of the time I have to keep my head up so that when I get opportunities like that this one can make the pass, whether it’s a cutter or a guy ready to shoot the three. For me it’s possession after possession.

“I have always felt comfortable in this role. Tonight it was just a messed up game, but overall I think we’re on the right track. And as far as my communication and demonstrating my leadership skills, we have a lot of people who agree and I think that contributes to our success.”

Without Kawhi Leonard, the Clippers will continue to rely on James Harden to lead them on offense for the foreseeable future. The good news is that goaltender Norman Powell has been listed as questionable for the Clippers’ game against the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night after a four-game absence with a hamstring strain.

Should he be cleared to return, the Clippers will get back a man who averages 23.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 49 percent from the field and 48 .7 percent can be achieved from three balls.