On February 26, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued to unfold, and the 76ers challenged the Timberwolves away. Harden made his 76ers debut in this game, and his performance was also very good, the first quarter was in the process of slow adaptation, but in the second quarter began to take over the game, scoring 12 points and 4 assists in the single quarter, leading the team to split again.
Harden's debut was also postponed to the All-Star due to a hamstring injury, and his combination with Embiid was also highly anticipated. The away challenge to the Timberwolves saw the two play in their first combination. After the game began, the two were obviously still a bit rusty and didn't have much contact, harden scored the first goal of his 76ers career through a breakthrough, and it wasn't long before he assisted Harris to hit a three-pointer, which was also the first assist of his 76ers career. Rivers also quickly replaced Harden and let Embiid lead the team.
The 76ers took the lead in the first quarter, and in the second quarter they did not pull the point gap away, but were narrowed by the Timberwolves. Harden hit his first three-pointer on the court at the beginning of the quarter, and in the final moments began to take over the game, and embiid also had a connection, assisting him to play 2+1 under the basket, and then playing 3+1 himself, which also made the 76ers bench boil. Embiid stood up and shouted, he still liked Harden very much, he knew that with Harden, he had the opportunity to impact the championship.
Throughout the second quarter, Harden was full of firepower, scoring 12 points in a single quarter and sending 4 assists to help the team gain the advantage on the court. Harden played 18 minutes in the first half, shooting 4-of-6, 2-of-3 from three-point range and 7-of-8 from the free throw line, with 17 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists without error.
Harden also reached a milestone when harden hit a three-pointer in the third quarter, and his career three-pointers reached 2550, and he became the only player in the active squad to do so, the other being Curry (3085); and the fourth player in history to achieve this achievement, as well as Ray Allen and Miller.