In a just-concluded NBA focus battle, the 76ers fought the road after four quarters, and finally lost to the First Place Heat in the East 82-99, and the five-game winning streak was ended.
In this game, Harden recovered from a back-to-back game due to a hamstring injury, and faced a fierce opponent who ranked before him, the 76ers fell into passivity early after the opening, and fell behind 14-22 in the first quarter. The Heat's second-team advantage was even more pronounced in the second quarter, at one point stretching the score to a 20-point lead at 40-20, and at the end of the half, the 76ers trailed the score to 40-54 and trailed by 14 points.
In the third quarter of the game, the 76ers recovered at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, and the team played a wave of attack to chase the score to 68-73 and only 5 points behind, making the suspense of the game reborn.
But in the final quarter, the 76ers failed to seize the opportunity, in the tug-of-war with the opponent, Embiid and Maxi were heavily guarded and failed to come forward, other teammates could not help them, and the Heat role players stepped forward one after another, and in the last moment, a wave of small climaxes pulled the score to double digits, making the game completely lose suspense.
In the whole game, the Heat scored in double figures, Butler returned to cut 21 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists to steals, Vincent 16 points and 2 assists, Hiro contributed 21 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists off the bench, and Martin 14 points.
On the 76ers side, Embiid cut 22 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals, Maxi 17ers 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal, T Harris 16 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists, and none of his teammates scored in double figures.
Losing this game will undoubtedly make the 76ers miss Harden more, and at the same time, it will also lay the foundation for Harden's role in this team!
Losing reflects Harden's worth
The 76ers offense came to a complete standstill in this game, scoring just 82 points, in stark contrast to the 120+ in the past few consecutive games, and also set a new single-game scoring record this season.
And if Harden is on the floor, I believe the overall offense of the 76ers will be upgraded by a notch, because he can activate the team's offensive system, let more teammates participate in the offense, and even get more offensive opportunities.
After Harden's absence, compared with the past 4 games, Embiid and Maxi, who are the core of the team's offense, played extremely hard in the face of the Heat's tenacious defense, and to a large extent, proved Harden's value.
Embiid shot only 4 of 15 from the field and only 5 shots from the box, and the Heat's defensive strategy was to limit Embiid to the paint, to gamble on his outside feel, and constantly put pressure on him on the outside, and finally he shot 0 of 6 from outside the 3-point line, and the threat was greatly reduced.
In the first half, Embiid was wrapped up in a 3-man package, which was even more heartfelt. Embiid received the ball on the right side of the arc, and the Heat players Butler, Tucker and Dunro directly besieged, releasing the other 2 76ers players, and tightly surrounded Embiid, leaving Embiid with no room to even handle the ball. It is conceivable that if Harden is there, the opponent will certainly not dare to pack Embiid in this way.
Maxi, who performed hot after Harden joined, also failed in this game and returned to the level before Harden arrived.
Although the shooting rate of 7 of 14 and 3 of 6 three-pointers in this game has reached 50%, there is still a very large gap compared with the 64% shooting rate and 70% shooting rate in the past 4 games. In the past four games, Maxi has averaged 26.8 points per game, far exceeding the season average, and this game's 17 points are in perfect line with his season average of 17.6 points per game.
This also proves once again that after Harden arrived, he attracted most of the opponent's defense, allowing Maxi to play more freely and flexibly, and got a lot of comfortable offensive opportunities to play far above the season average.
The loss also exposed the hidden dangers of the title race
Although a loss does not explain anything, it will not affect the 76ers' next championship plan, after all, after Harden's return, they are still one of the top teams in the league. However, this game also exposed the hidden dangers of this team's desire to compete for the title!
In this game, only three players from the 76ers scored in double figures, with Embiid, Maxi and Harris combining to contribute 55 points, while the other seven rotation players combined had only 27 points.
Meanwhile, their benches added up to just 25 points, but the Heat's bench scored 48 points, almost half of the 76ers, such a huge gap, and it was one of the most important factors in the 76ers' loss in this game.
And such data also proves once again that although the current 76ers' big three are strong, their bench lineup is a bit weak, and when it comes to playing a war of attrition in the playoffs, it will undoubtedly make the pressure on Harden and Embiid very large, if Maxi can't maintain an unconventional level of play, then the team's goal of rushing to the championship will also encounter huge challenges.