Beijing time on March 11, the 76ers sat on their home to usher in a showdown with the new signing Harden's old owner Nets, this focus showdown, but also by everyone's attention, the result did not want to sit on the home advantage of the 76ers, but was the Nets "anti-guest-oriented", in the first half of the game fell behind by as much as 21 points, the most backward score once came to 36 points, the whole game did not get a lead of the 76ers, and finally defeated the Nets 100-129, Harden also swallowed his first loss since wearing the 76ers shirt.
As the two cores that the 76ers are currently most dependent on, Embiid and Harden can be said to be the culprits of the team's defeat, although Embiid scored a double-double of 27 points and 12 rebounds in the whole game, but only hit 5 goals in 17 shots, and the scores were basically all on the free throw line (15 of 19), and the plus-30 plus-minus was the same as Harden', the worst for the team. As for Harden, the whole game was also completely locked by his most familiar Nets teammates, in the first half under Irving's close defense, Harden shot a total of 7 shots only hit 1 goal, and in this game he scored 10 of two-pointers, and became the second player in the season to play 10 of 10 single-game two-pointers, the first happened to be the "second brother" Westbrook who was partnered in the Thunder and Rockets.
That is to say, Harden and Embiid are only 8 of 34 in total, the shooting rate is not even 30%, the two cores are completely locked, and it is indeed far-fetched to expect other role players from the 76ers to come forward. After losing this game, Harden and Embiid want to compete for an important single award of their respective careers this season, which is indeed a big question mark.
As of now, Harden's average assists per game has reached 10.3, 0.4 from Paul's 10.7, but don't underestimate this only 0.4 gap, if Harden can't maintain it stably at 11 in subsequent games, even if Paul is reimbursed in the regular season, Harden will have a hard time catching up with the old teammate and winning the glory of the second assist king of his career this season (Harden once glorified the title of the league assist king with 11.2 assists in the 16-17 season).
As for Embiid, after losing this key battle, the probability of winning the MVP has also dropped sharply, and it is true that he has been able to hand over extremely explosive dominance statistics before this, but today's focus showdown, Embiid unfortunately dropped the chain, it does require him to use up to 5 games to slowly make up for it later, but if he seizes this opportunity today, continues to play excellent performances, and helps the 76ers win, it is very likely that he will have a certain upper hand in the matchup with Jokic. It is true that Embiid can currently average 29.7 points, 11.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.4 blocks per game, but this can not play the "soft underbelly" of the hard battle, and for the selection of MVP after that, it will be more or less affected.
After today's game, the 76ers temporarily ranked third in the East with a record of 40 wins and 25 losses, and in the next 10 or so games, they will also usher in the challenge of the Hots, Suns, Bucks, the favorite teams that have won the championship, and hope that Embiid and Harden can seize these hard battle opportunities, don't drop the chain again, if unfortunately pull the crotch, not only can they not achieve this glory, the 76ers are also likely to continue to stage the past few seasons in the playoffs to drop the chain, no chance to rush out of the East.