Beijing time on February 26, the NBA regular season continued, the 76ers away 133-102 victory over the Timberwolves, the game process is almost no suspense, the 76ers in the first quarter played the Timberwolves a wave of 34-25, half-time has led by 16 points, in the second half, the 76ers still did not give the opponent a chance, especially in the fourth quarter, the single quarter once again played 41-28, and finally hung the opponent 31 points.
After winning this game, the 76ers have won two straight games and are currently in third place in the East with a record of 36-23, and are only 2.5 wins away from the First Heat in the East (39 wins and 21 losses), but only 2.0 wins ahead of the sixth-place Celtics in the East (35 wins and 26 losses) — this year's Eastern Conference scuffle, one or two more losses may require a play-off.
So, every win is wonderful, and what's even more wonderful is that this victory is harden's 76ers debut.
In the first game dressed by the 76ers, Harden played quite well, scoring 12 points, 2 rebounds and 4 assists in the second quarter, and had 17 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists in the half;
In the whole game, Harden played a total of 35 minutes, shooting 7 of 12, 5 of 7 three-pointers, 8 of 9 from the free throw line, 27 points, 8 rebounds and 12 assists, and only 2 turnovers, with a plus-minus of +35 on the field, the highest on the team.
In the matter of debut, Harden is a madman, and his three transfer debuts have not disappointed:
—Rockets debut, 37 points, 6 rebounds, 12 assists and 4 steals
— Nets debut, 32 points, 12 rebounds, 14 assists and 4 steals
— The 76ers made their debut, with 27 points, eight rebounds and 12 assists
Three appearances, each with at least "25 points and 12 assists," has never been a "25 points, 12 assists" debut in league history except harden.
Back to this game, in addition to Harden, Embiid and Maxi also performed well:
Embiid, who had 10-of-18, 3-of-5 three-pointers and 11-of-13 from the free throw line, had 34 points, 10 rebounds and three assists
— Maxi, who made 12-of-16, 3-of-3 from three-point range and 2-of-2 from the free throw line, had 28 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 4 steals
The 76ers' starting lineup today is Embiid + Harden + Harris + Maxi + Sable, a combination that played 15 minutes together, outperforming the Timberwolves by 45.6 points per 100 rounds, and all five people's plus-minus on the floor exceeded +20.
Obviously, the "Diden combination" is the most eye-catching, the two only shot a total of 30 times, they cut 61 points, 18 rebounds and 15 assists.
Long before the Harden deal was officially reached, O'Neal had forwarded a composite photo of the two on social media, saying that the combination of Embiid and Harden would be the strongest combination of the league's interior and exterior after the OK combination.
In addition, another celebrity Garnett also said on his own show: "Harden and Embiid look like the 2022 version of Shaq and Kobe Bryant, there is a real outside star, they can play together." 」 ”
Therefore, the expectations of the outside world for this combination can be said to be very high, and the fact is that Harden and Embiid will become the most threatening blocking combination in the league - these two are both scoring king-level players, and there will always be a comfortable position after blocking and dismantling, which Bensi and Embiid could not imagine.
Speaking of Simmons, another interesting statistic for this game is that Harden scored 5-of-7 three-pointers in this game, and one game equaled Simmons' three-point shooting throughout his 76ers career (5-of-34).
After the game, Embiid said of Harden's debut: "Harden can create opportunities for all of us, this is probably the most vacant game in my career, I used to have to fight for everything on my own, but tonight's fourth quarter showed the ability to create opportunities, shooting space, you can see from my expression, we have never had this, not even close." 」 Bency should not be unhappy to hear this, it is just a fact.
Listen to what Harden has to say about this game.
Before the game, Harden said: "Philadelphia has the feeling of home, the energy and atmosphere here are superb, we have a lot of opportunities that the team doesn't have, it's time to start." ”
After the game, Harden said: "I think I'm a good teammate... Tonight is a good start, but we still have a long way to go, we have to do everything we can to develop good habits, when the time comes, we can be ready, (to win) I am willing to do anything, we have a common goal, I personally don't need to prove anything, but as a team as a whole, we still have things to prove. ”
You can see that Harden and Embiid not only played more comfortably after this deal, but also had a completely different mental outlook - there are still many people who are not optimistic about this combination, hoping that Harden and Embiid will take more victories to prove themselves, this year's 76ers, this year's East, there is really a drama to watch.