NEW YORK — Even before his team lost by 14 points in James Harden’s debut on Monday, LA Clippers coach Ty Lue expressed the right sentiment.

“It’s good that [the trade for Harden] happened so early in the season,” he said. “We got a long time to figure things out.”

This was Game 6 of 82 and it wasn’t pretty. The Clippers’ 22 turnovers were four more than they’d committed in any of their first five games. But this team has four incredibly talented players who could complement each other pretty well, and it has 76 more games to make it work.

Here are some notes, quotes, numbers and film from Harden’s debut with the fourth different team he’s played for in the last three years.

1. A star-studded lineup

Lue put all four of his future Hall of Famers in the starting lineup on Day 1. Maybe there’s a (non-injury-related) lineup change at some point down the line, but there’s no time like the present to see if Harden, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard and Russell Westbrook can function together. After all, we don’t know for how many games all four will be available.

Their time together was cut off when Lue initiated garbage time with 4:25 left in the fourth quarter and his team down 14 points. But the four stars played 19.2 minutes together, registering a minus-10 in that time with ugly numbers on both ends of the floor:

• On offense, the Clippers scored 37 points on 39 possessions (95 per 100) with eight turnovers.

• On defense, they allowed 47 points on 39 possessions (121 per 100).

2. One of the best pick-and-roll passers in the game

As talented as George, Leonard and Westbrook are, none of them can match Harden as a pick-and-roll playmaker. So while it may seem like overkill to have so many players who are best with the ball in their hands, the new guy does add to the mix.

“He’s a guy who we can put in high pick and roll consistently,” Lue said before the game, “and make the right play, make the right pass, make the right read.”

A big reason why Joel Embiid won the Kia MVP award last season is that he had Harden passing him the ball in the pick and roll. Ivica Zubac is not an MVP candidate, but his new teammate will get him some easier buckets. Pick-and-roll Harden was on display early, with a nutmeg pass through Mitchell Robinson’s legs to set up free throws for Zubac as well as a standard assist to Zubac:

Three possessions later, Harden set up Zubac for the Clippers’ first field goal.

Passes to the roll man will be critical because, over the past few seasons, the Clippers have been a jump-shooting team. Westbrook has helped them put more pressure on the rim, and Harden’s passing can do the same.

Harden also got Norman Powell an open 3-pointer late in the first half with a pick-and-roll drive.

Harden said that his role as the ballhandler is “generating the best shot available, whoever’s open. The defense dictates that.”

3. A variety of actions

The Clippers didn’t rely too heavily on the Harden/Zubac pick and roll. Here are some other actions we saw, just in the first half:

George/Zubac pick and roll with Harden and Leonard spaced and Westbrook in the dunker spot (baseline, just outside the paint).

• “Flex” offense, with Leonard given his choice of screens to use.

• George/Westbrook pick and roll with Zubac in the dunker spot.

• Westbrook/Zubac pick and roll with the other three stars spaced.

• “Spain” or “stack” pick and roll, with Westbrook handling and George setting a back screen on the big.

• Spain/stack with Harden handling and George again setting the back screen.

Harden is the pick-and-roll savant. Westbrook puts pressure on the rim. Leonard is the iso machine, with whom the Clippers can go matchup hunting. And George can fill almost any role on the floor, with the Clippers also running some sets on Monday to get him the ball curling off screens to the top of the floor.

“Unlimited possibilities,” Harden said of the Clippers’ potential.

4. Kawhi Leonard is “the best player”

Sacrifices will have to be made with this group. The collective can be incredibly good, but the stars’ individual numbers obviously won’t be what we’ve seen when they’ve had less top-line talent around them.

Leonard was the one player who got a little lost in the newness of the Clippers’ offense in the first half. So Lue made sure he got touches in position to score at the start of the third quarter. On the first possession, he curled off a strong Westbrook screen and got to the rim:

The Knicks defended the action better on the next possession, but Leonard still got a decent look in the post.

Asked about the intent of those first couple of possessions, Lue was clear.

“He’s the best player,” he said of Leonard. “Everybody has to sacrifice, but I thought, with the matchup for Kawhi, we could attack it a little more instead of spreading it out.”

Midway through the third quarter, Harden seemingly got Leonard an open 3. But Leonard isn’t a quick-release catch-and-shoot guy when playing off the ball. He eventually got Harden an open look, but he also hesitated before missing a tougher sidestep 3.

In the fourth quarter, Leonard got another open look in the strong-side corner off a Harden pick-and-roll feed. And he drained that one.

“Be ready to shoot,” Leonard said bluntly when asked about playing with Harden. “He’s coming off the pick and roll, he can make plays and you’re usually open. So be ready to shoot the ball. It’s simple.”

5. Harden runs the second unit

Last season, the most minutes per game that any four-man combination played was 24.3. So for at least half the game, fewer than four of the Clippers’ stars will be on the floor. When they’re all healthy, Lue can have at least one and maybe two on the floor at all times. But over the next five months, he’ll have to figure out which combinations work best.

On Monday, Harden was the first of the four to sub out, coming back later in the first and third quarters to run the Clippers’ second unit with Bones Hyland, Norman Powell, P.J. Tucker and Mason Plumlee also on the floor.

“Whatever coach and the team needs me to do, honestly,” Harden said of the second-unit role. “I’m very versatile. More pick and rolls in that second unit.”

And that’s why he was put in that spot.

“I like that he can have the ball in his hands,” Lue said, “make plays and score the basketball, run pick and roll.”

It was against the Harden-plus-reserves unit that the Knicks had their best stretch, a 10-0 run spanning the third and fourth quarters that gave New York a seven-point lead. The rest of the Clippers’ stars soon returned to the floor but couldn’t stop the Knicks’ onslaught. New York scored on its first 10 possessions of the final period, the Clippers’ clunky offense couldn’t keep up and Lue soon pulled the plug.

Next up for the Clippers are the Nets in Brooklyn on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET, NBA League Pass). Then they’ll play their first In-Season Tournament game in Dallas on Friday (8:30 p.m. ET, NBA League Pass).

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John Schuhmann is a senior stats analyst for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.

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