"James Harden went to a boxing match and found out he didn't have boxing gloves on!!"
Former NBA player Kendrick Perkins, who has switched to commentary, left a golden message on Twitter, and his meaning is clear that Harden is not ready to play the 76ers and the Nets in this tough battle.
In the 76ers home 100-129 defeat to the Nets, Harden played 29 minutes 17 shots 3, including 7 three-pointers 7 shots, free throws 2 of 2 shots to get 11 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, he had 4 turnovers, the plus-minus on the court was the team's worst -30 points, a good milestone night, the result became "mileage sad". It was his worst performance since Harden joined the 76ers, on both ends of the road, and his performance was not only inferior to Kyrie Irving, who is rumored to be at odds with him, but even Seth Curry, who was sent away by the 76ers in Harden's trade.
After the game entered garbage time, Harden sat on the bench like a wooden chicken, and Kevin Durant sat on the bench and smiled like a flower, the reactions of the two sides were in stark contrast, and Harden was undoubtedly the embarrassed side.
Originally, this game was seen as Harden's name-calling battle. Regardless of the reasons, Harden's forced departure from the Nets is a fact, and he needs to prove to the Nets and himself that his choice was right. It is said that this game is holding its breath to break out of Harden, which can be seen from the game scene, Harden's game attitude and intensity do not meet the standard of this old enemy battle, but it is Durant and Irving who hold their breath, and they use their sharp offensive and ruthless defense to prove to Harden that Harden's choice is wrong.
Today's overall harden performance is strange, his downturn is very bizarre, and he seems to be back to the state at the end of his Nets career. Aside from the mental imbalance, it's hard to find other reasons to interpret Harden's downturn.
Since Harden joined the 76ers, he is in very good shape, people move the dead tree to live, Harden changed the environment after the average of 24.6 points, 12.4 assists, shooting 53.1% from the field, three-point shooting rate reached 44.8%.
Doug Rivers didn't use Harden as hard as Nash did, and the 76ers even arranged for Harden to take a break. Because of the presence of Joel Embiid and Maxi, Harden's load on the court has been reduced a lot, and he doesn't need to be as big as in the past. So today the 76ers host the Nets, this game was hyped as the "American Spring Festival Gala" and "Eastern Conference Finals preview" before the game, and everyone was looking forward to harden and Embiid in the best form to play Durant and Irving.
But the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment, and Harden is clearly out of shape today. Are the Nets defensively strong? It is not strong, a team with Irving, Curry Jr., And Bruce Brown sitting on the outside and Drummond on the inside, how dare not say that it is defensively strong. And in fact, the Nets opened the scoring at the beginning, relying on the anti-heaven projection feel. But against such a team that is not a defensive team, Harden can't find a way to score.
What the Nets have done on the defensive end is nothing more than stacking up the strong side, and if the 76ers can patiently transfer the ball, they can find good scoring opportunities, but the 76ers offense presents only Embiid's singles and Harden's singles. This style of play just fell into the Nets' defensive trap, and the result was that Harden's strong breakout was either interfered with or covered. Throughout the game, Harden actually shot 0-of-10 from within the three-point line, 9 of which were concentrated in the box or on the edge of the box, which is obviously not Harden's normal level.
In the first half, Harden had many opportunities to attack Irving, and it is well known that defense is not Irving's strong point, but Harden only made 1 of 7 shots in front of Irving. And when Harden returned to the other end to defend Irving, he was scored on his head several times by Irving.
Harden's breakthrough lethality is not enough, nor does he have to foul on the free throw line, and at the back, Harden's self-confidence has dropped significantly. In the third quarter, Embiid held the ball at the top of the arc, and Harden even waved his hand to refuse to receive the ball, allowing Embiid to transfer the ball to Maxi on the other side to attack with the ball. In the middle and late third quarter, Harden stumbled several times, even the ball was unstable, and there were low-level mistakes.
"Harden did a bunch of crap on the court and it felt like this game was a playoff game," said Bill Simmons, who taunted Harden's repeated crotch terriers in the playoffs.
Harden's loss today may be just an accident, as the 76ers coach, Rivers did not prepare well before the game and adjust in the game. This begs the question: Can Rivers, who has been reversed many times in the playoffs, and Harden, who has been lost many times in the playoffs, bring the 76ers championship to the team?
When Harden first joined the 76ers, ESPN star Zach Lowey raised a question, can Harden be reliable in the key battles and key moments of the playoffs?
At that time, Lowe wrote in the article: "In the Rocket age, Harden has had many experiences of losing key battles, he has 3 games and only 2 of 11 shots, and 1 game has 12 mistakes in a single game. As a typical ball-dominating star, Harden's shooting statistics at key moments are not ideal, and most of his best playoff performances come from the first round or when the team leads 3-0 or 3-1. ”
Harden's temporary slump caused the 76ers to lose to the Nets is not the end of the world, but Harden's hard battle is once again lost, and it does sound a wake-up call for the 76ers and Harden. Can Harden become Mr. Big Scene? This is a real problem in front of Harden and the 76ers.