The NBA regular season continued, with the East ushering in a strong dialogue, with the 76ers sitting at home to face the Bulls.
As the biggest dark horse in the East, the Bulls bottomed out this season, killed to the top of the East in one go, and once occupied the first position in the East, but due to the serious decline in the competitiveness of the team due to injury problems, it was even more lost in succession when facing strong teams, and it was in the midst of 4 consecutive defeats before the game.
On the other hand, the 76ers, since getting Harden, the team has performed very well, achieving a record of all victories in the four games hardened, ranking second in the East before the game, 0.5 wins ahead of the fourth-place Bulls.
As soon as the game began, the feel of the two teams was very hot, and the Bulls, despite the absence of the core of the inside line Vucevic, under the leadership of players such as DeRozan and LaVine, the team blossomed inside and outside, playing a very smooth offensive performance.
Not to be outdone, Embiid faced the Bulls' weak interior line, showing the strong dominance of the top interior line, scoring 11 points in a single quarter, plus Harden stepped up to score consecutive points, and the 76ers took a five-point lead at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the two teams experienced a significant decline in hand, opening a period of iron war, with the advantage of the inside Embiid, the 76ers still occupied a 6-point lead at the end of the half.
The Bulls still haven't found a crosshair, and the 76ers have given full play to the advantages of embiid on the inside, who blasted down 19 points in a single quarter, allowing Philadelphia to pull the point difference to double digits in one go.
The Bulls have since picked up, but Embiid has fully played and can be said to have given and demanded on the inside, which has allowed Philadelphia to end the first three quarters with an 11-point advantage.
Entering the final quarter of competition, Embiid was still unstoppable, the Bulls seemed helpless, has not been able to close the score, and finally the 76ers who played at home won the key card battle 121-106, sitting in the second place in the East.
Throughout the game, Embiid was undoubtedly the decisive figure in the 76ers' victory in the focus battle, one person destroying the Bulls' defensive system.
Embiid played 36 minutes, shooting 15-of-27, and efficiently blasted down a comprehensive statistic of 43 points, 14 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks, with a personal plus-minus of +14.
It was Embiid's 21st 30+10 performance of the season, tying the Bucks to tie for first place in the league, and the 10th time he cut at least 40 points and 10 rebounds, ranking first in the league, and the first player to complete this feat after the 76ers' Everlast Chamberlain.
Harden's performance was equally good, although the overall efficiency was not high, only 16 points were only 5 of 15 shooting, but he also delivered 8 rebounds and 14 assists.
From the scene point of view, there is no Harden, the 76ers are completely two levels of the team, when Harden is on the field, he not only combs the whole team's attack in an orderly manner, but his teammates play comfortably.
It also makes the opponent have to give up the strategy of wrapping Embiid, because Harden, as a big core of ball holding inside and outside, brings pressure to defenders to the naked eye, as long as the opponent takes the bag, Harden can always punish the opponent by scoring and assisting.
In the five games he played against the 76ers, Ha averaged 24.6 points, 7.6 rebounds and 12.4 assists.
Overall shooting percentage is 53 percent, three-point shooting is 45 percent, and free throw shooting is 89 percent.
And in Harden's game, the 76ers won all 5 games, and the Big Three remained unbeaten, which is also the key to the team being able to reach the second place in the East.
At the same time, Harden is also constantly ushering in career milestones, with the performance of this game, Harden's career total score surpassed Elgin Baylor and rose to 31st place in history.
His career regular season three-point shooting reached 2,560, tying Reggie Miller to third all-time, shooting 6,919 free throws so far in his career, surpassing Paul Pierce (6918) to ninth place in the NBA's all-time free throw shooting list.
At the same time, Harden became the second player since the merger of the NBA and the ABA to have at least 60 assists in the first five games for both new teams (60 assists in the first five games of the Nets and 63 assists in the first five games of the 76ers).