On March 20, Beijing time, 76 people were unanimously optimistic about the outside world after the arrival of Harden, and many fans believed that this was harden and Embiid's best championship season. In fact, it may be so, in Harden's game, the 76ers have a record of 8 wins and 2 losses, and the team's ranking has also come to third place in the East, and it is currently only one win away from the Bucks. Yesterday, in the face of the recent momentum of the lone ranger, Embiid teamed up with Harden to teach Doncic a profound lesson. As a result, everyone knows, and the 76ers beat their opponents by 10 points.
Harden defended Doncic in this game, letting the latter only play 5 of 20 shooting, but also forced him to have 6 turnovers, in the end, Doncic only got 17 points, 7 rebounds and 10 assists, and Harden hit the opponent in this game, he hit the opponent 6 of 14, cut 24 points, 7 rebounds and 12 assists, only 2 turnovers. Embiid also played well in this game, Powell simply could not take him, he played 34 minutes, 11 of 20, light 32 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 steals. However, this game also exposed the two major shortcomings of the 76ers.
The first big short board, except for Harden, the team does not have a stable point guard, Milton played 12 minutes, did not shoot, 0 points and 0 assists; the second big short board, except for Embiid, the team did not have a center who could put pressure on the opponent in defense. Jordan Jr. performed well on the offensive end, he played 13 minutes off the bench, 3 of 5, got 8 points and 7 rebounds, but fans who have watched Jordan Jr. play know that in fact, his defense has never been very good, past experience tells us that Jordan Jr. played for more than 25 minutes, he is prone to loss of concentration, often appear defensive leakage, become a cash machine for people to play.
So what to do? The best way to do this is to use Harden more. In this game, Harden's playing time is as high as 42 minutes, and in the past four games, Harden's playing time is 44+39+42+42 (minutes), which is very scary. Why did Harden play for so long? The reason is simple, Harden's role is too great. First of all, on the court, he is a powerful offensive point, he has an effect on almost every breakthrough; second, Harden's passing ability is very high, he can string together the team's offense, making teammates more threatening.
In the end, when Harden was on the floor, the team's offense was more fluid, and the rhythm was in the hands of the 76ers, rather than being led by the opponent's nose. In the first few games that just joined the 76ers, Harden's playing time was basically stable at about 35 minutes, Rivers is not the kind of coach who dies with stars, but now he also concedes defeat, he knows the importance of Harden to the team, the more Time Harden rests, the greater the probability of the team losing, so increasing Harden's playing time is a better choice.
Looking at Embiid's playing time in the past four games, although there are also 41 +36+34+34 (minutes), but compared with Harden, it is still a lot worse, which leads to a conclusion: no Embiid is OK, no Harden is really not OK. It seems that we have wronged Nash, who is indeed a coach who relies on superstar singles, but this also sets off Harden's value from the side. What's more, Nash is still just a rookie coach, and he certainly wants Harden to play more time and help the team win to prove his coaching ability. Let's take a look at KD and Irving's playing time in the past four games, 43+30+40+38 and 37+38+30+35 respectively, especially Irving's time, which is not in the same grade as Harden.
Now, Harden's average playing time is as high as the third in the league, and he has just recovered from injury, which is all the explanation. Harden is indeed a "tough" player, but Rivers can not be small losses, the 76ers have basically locked in the playoffs, losing one or two games in the regular season is not a hindrance, let Harden rest for a few more minutes, 76 people can see the shadow of the championship, otherwise once the thigh is injured, all efforts will be lost.