On March 17, Beijing time, some people said that Harden's sweet period of 76ers has passed, and he will spend a bitter time next. But it seems that this is not the case, in Harden's 9 games, the 76ers' record is 7 wins and 2 losses, and the overall look is still good. If the current performance of the 76ers is the level of the sweet period after Harden joined, then it can only be said that the "Enha combination" is a "match made in heaven", Harden's arrival has made the 76ers stronger, and also made Embiid play more freely, like a fish.
Of course, the 76ers team still has obvious flaws, such as the lack of a substitute point guard on the bench, such as the lack of a decent center in addition to Embiid. Milton can indeed share some organizational pressure, but the 76ers may not be enough to rush out of the East and even win the championship; in addition, although Jordan Jr. can eat cake and score points in the offense, but when his playing time continues to increase, the former rebounding king is easy to lose his mind and have a defensive leak.
The 76ers' current roster is basically finalized, so what to do? The best thing to do is to let some people play more time from the current lineup, and Harden became Rivers' best choice. In the past three games, Harden's playing time has suddenly risen sharply, 44 minutes, 39 minutes and 42 minutes, which is very scary. Of course, Harden is a very star, his body structure is enough to make him withstand high-intensity competition, but in the past two seasons, injuries have been constantly greeting him.
Last season and this season, it was because of Nash's overuse that Harden kept having hamstring strains, and he didn't expect to leave Nash and now meet Rivers again. In the first few games of joining the 76ers, Harden's appearance has been basically stable at about 35 minutes, but from the last few games, Rivers has been a bit of a Nash, because all coaches know what Harden means to a team, when he is on the floor, the team will be more organized, the offense will be sharper, and the threat will be greater.
Now, judging from Rivers' employment, we seem to be suddenly enlightened, and suddenly understand Nash's original pain. But Harden is not made of iron after all, the 76ers have basically locked up the playoffs, Harden's playing time can be appropriately reduced, losing one or two games in the regular season is harmless, once Harden is injured again, then the team's efforts throughout the season will be wasted, Embiid single core led the team to the second round at most, and may even stop in the first round. Of course, to put it nicely, the growing playing time is Rivers' affirmation of Harden's personal ability.
It also highlights Harden's importance to the game. If you are 4-5 years younger, let alone 44 minutes, Harden may not have a problem even if he plays 48 minutes. Before coming to the Nets, Harden had hardly suffered any major injuries, but in the past two seasons, Harden has been injured more and more frequently, he is really not the bearded man he used to be, and the age is finally there. Hopefully, Rivers will be sober, be an understanding person, and not repeat Nash's mistakes.