On March 11, Beijing time, the Nets and 76ers, who had previously traded through Harden and Curry Jr., got the players they wanted, and their recent performances were quite good. In particular, the 76ers have become so powerful after getting Harden, the cooperation between Harden and Embiid is seamless, and the 76ers have instantly become one of the most likely teams in the East to win a championship. Now the 76ers and the Nets also have a chance to face each other, but the result of the game is unexpected.
The Nets directly destroyed the 76ers with an aggregate score of 129-100, and the Returning Durant plus Irving and Curry Jr. could each score at least 22 points, and their combination made Embiid and Harden look very unsuccessful. Harden became the biggest loser of the game, he scored 11 points on 3-of-17 shooting in the game, only 2 in terms of free throws, and the plus-minus value was the lowest -30 in the game. It's hard to imagine that Harden, who was in such a brave state before, would actually play such a statistic, and this is also related to the Nets' targeting.
In this game, we can clearly see that the Nets are indeed targeted around the combination of Harden and Embiid, and the Nets players are like a deadly cut off the connection between Harden and Embiid. The Nets got a total of 13 steals and 15 blocks throughout the game, which led to Harden and Embiid each having four turnovers. But Embiid can still get a game-high 27 points, and Harden has no other way to help him get the points.
Some American media even directly mocked Harden's poor state after watching this game, and the whole performance was like in the playoffs. If the fans who know Harden see this sentence in the American media, they will not laugh unconsciously, because the most criticized place for Harden for so many years is the playoffs, and he will be weak every time he reaches the playoffs, and there is no way to lead the team to win. Now even in the regular season, facing the old club Nets, Harden still shows the weakness of the playoffs.
It has to be said that this may be Harden's flaw, harden at the beginning of this season because of the league's change in rules and lost the ability to shoot free throws, which further affected Harden's offensive ability, which led to Harden has been in a very depressed state during that time. Even if the league relaxes the penalty for fouls to allow Harden to breathe, as long as the other side is strong, as long as the other party is targeted to Harden's deployment, then Harden is still a mud that cannot be supported by the wall, and there is no offensive threat at all.
The most comprehensive gap between the Nets and the 76ers can be seen from here, with Durant and Irving on the Nets side both belonging to undifferentiated singles players who are not affected by defense, while Harden and Embiid on the 76ers side can only rely on fouls to score most of the time. The difference in offensive ability between the two combinations is too much, and the 76ers have lost such a good role player as Curry Jr. because of Harden. When it comes time to fight the bayonet in the playoffs, the strength of the 76ers is definitely not as good as the Nets.
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