Harden's debut at Philadelphia has been highly anticipated since being traded by the Nets, but unfortunately the fans' wishes have not been fulfilled due to hamstring injuries and the All-Star Game. In Philadelphia's game against the Timberwolves on February 26, Beijing time, Harden finally returned from injury, and his performance in his debut was worthy of the expectations of fans.
In this game, due to the Timberwolves' early surrender, Harden only played 35 minutes, got 27 points, 8 rebounds and 12 assists of the quasi-triple-double data, only two mistakes, and Harden's efficiency is super high, shooting 7 of 12, 7 of 7 outside the three-point line, so Harden is the real league superstar, but also let many fans exclaim, the Nets were played.
In fact, Harden's debut in the Nets is equally amazing, but in the subsequent performance has become extremely unstable, which is also related to Harden's environment, in the Nets because of various injuries and off-court factors, Harden is under great pressure on the offensive and organizational ends, the defensive end and there are no reliable players to share for him, plus Nash often let him play with injuries for 40 minutes, and after losing and being criticized, it is not surprising that Harden's performance is fluctuating.
In Game 1 of Philadelphia, Harden seemed to be in better condition on the court than in the Nets, superstar partner Embiid was dominant this season, with Sebel and Green covering up his flaws on the defensive end, and Maxi's sudden emergence shared the pressure on Harden's offensive end, which made Harden look at ease and efficient in the game. But the decline in the physical function of the 33-year-old Harden is an indisputable fact, his breakthrough explosive power is long gone, the rate of the iconic retreat step three-point has also declined, and Harden will also have the ups and downs of the state in the Philadelphia team.
More importantly, Harden's playing style is indeed closely related to the penalty, as the originator of the league's porcelain touch, when Harden can get enough free throws in the game, his performance is generally very good, and he has won 9 free throws in just 12 shots in this game, which makes Harden's performance like a fish. Superstar teammate Embiid is also good at creating fouls, scoring as many as 13 free throws in this game, and the two combined 22 free throws, while the Timberwolves only scored 25 for the whole team.
Relying too much on the performance of free throws, it has also been complained about by the media and fans, the Philadelphia team won 16 free throws in the first quarter of the game, while the Timberwolves only had 5 times, and the actual game time in the first quarter was as much as half an hour, and the famous Bill Simmons tweeted: If you like to watch free throws and video replays, then this new Philadelphia team will be your favorite team.
The slow-paced and free-throw-dependent Philadelphia team is likely to encounter difficulties in the playoffs, and in the playoffs with higher defensive intensity and more encouragement of physical confrontation, Harden and Embiid may not get so many free throws, especially hardened at the end of his career, he is likely to return to the state of the Nets without free throws, as for Embiid, the picture of him crying in the playoffs is still vivid.
In addition to these two points, Philadelphia also has a hidden worry, that is, the lack of a third fulcrum in the team, Maxi, who scored 28 points in this game, can quickly break the weak Timberwolves, but you can't expect the 21-year-old Maxi to still have such a crazy performance in the high-intensity playoffs. In stark contrast, Philadelphia's true triple-brace Harris, who sleepwalked in such a low-intensity game, only got 6 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists, shooting less than 30 percent from the field.
Teams with the inner line as the core have not won a championship for many years, Embiid in the playoffs is difficult to continue the crazy performance of the regular season, Harden's state is fluctuating and heavily dependent on free throws, coupled with such an inadequate top salary three, Philadelphia's championship journey is not optimistic.