Recently, the 76ers duo Harden and Embiid also ushered in their first combination, and the two scored a combined 61 points (Embiid 34 points, Harden 27 points), helping the 76ers to wash the Timberwolves by 31 points at 133 to 102. It is true that the two have shown a good competitiveness, but there are still some people who are not optimistic about them. Earlier, according to van Stratton, author of American media Sportscasting, Harden and Embiid relied too much on free throws and would pay a terrible price in the playoffs.
Embiid's average of free throws per game this season has come to the league's first 11.3, while Harden's average of free throws per game is tied for third in the league with DeRozan with eight. In the game of the 76ers victory over the Timberwolves, the two combined 19 of 22 on the free throw line, and it should be known that the whole team only made 36 free throws, that is to say, Embiid and Harden accounted for 60% of the 76ers' free throws. It is true that in the regular season, both can be "taken care of by the referee", but it is really necessary to go to the playoffs, which are more advocating physical confrontation, embiid and Harden have already proved that they do not have the ability to make fouls in the regular season.
Biembid is a player who plays mainly on the inside, It may not be too obvious in terms of free throws (last season Embiid averaged 10.7 free throws per game in the regular season and 9.9 in the playoffs, the gap is not obvious), but Harden, a backcourt player known for making fouls and standing on the free throw line, has more than once pulled his crotch in the playoffs, taking the 19-20 season as an example, harden, who was also wearing a rocket suit at the time, could average 11.8 free throws per game during the regular season, setting a career high, but in the playoffs, his average free throws per game plummeted to 9.7 times, which was not favored by the referee and also affected Harden's offensive state The average three-point shooting percentage per game has also declined sharply. Throughout Harden's 13-year NBA career, his three-point shooting rate can reach 36.2% during the regular season, but in the playoffs, the accuracy drops to 33.2% below the standard.
Unlike Curry, Lillard, who are very good at outside projection, Harden is the kind of "rhythmic" guard who needs to find his own rhythm of the game to burst, but where he is best at making fouls, he will not get the referee's care, more or less will affect Harden's entire mentality. He averaged 6.9 free throws per game, 2.1 fewer than the 9 in the regular season, and 20.2 points was a bit lower than the 22.5 points in the regular season.
So even if Embiid can accept that his free throws have been cut in the playoffs, harden, if he pulls his crotch in the playoffs in the previous seasons, the 76ers may have to repeat the frustrations of the past few seasons and once again have no chance to rush out of the East. So in the remaining 20 or so games, the 76ers really need to make Harden and Embiid less dependent on free throws and more dependent on projection to adapt to the "unfair treatment" encountered in the playoffs in advance.
It is true that the 76ers are currently in third place in the East with a record of 36 wins and 23 losses, but with the lessons of last season (the regular season is high in the East, but lost to the Hawks in the playoff semifinals), I believe that the Philadelphia soldiers will not let the tragedy play out again, and to avoid such a similar tragedy, Embiid and Harden, the two cores, must take the lead and reduce their dependence on free throws.