In the East-West top-of-the-table battle, James Harden played 39 minutes, handed over 2 of 11 shots (5 of 2 three-pointers), scored only 14 points and 9 assists in 8 free throws, and had a dismal performance of -16 points on the field, and the 76ers lost 104-114.
There are many jokes that Harden never disappoints in terms of disappointing people in hard battles.
In the face of ridicule and even ridicule from the outside world, Harden can't blame others, because he has not shown a convincing performance in the hard battle since he joined the 76ers.
The 76ers were tragically reversed by the Raptors, and Harden scored only 17 points but made six turnovers. Further ahead, the 76ers lost to the Nets, with Harden scoring just 11 points on 3-of-17 shooting plus four turnovers. Harden's hard-fought crotch pull is not an isolated case, and the data shows that harden's shooting rate of strong teams with a winning rate of more than 50% is only 41%, while the shooting rate of teams with a bullying winning rate of less than 50% is close to 45%.
What happened to Harden? This question has been asked for almost a season. There are many reasons for Harden's decline in performance, and perhaps it is unrealistic to expect Harden to return in the Rocket era. Judging from the reports of the US media and Harden's own attitude, even Harden himself did not expect to return to the state of the rocket era.
Hamstring injury, can Harden still overcome it?
In the history of the NBA, there are countless examples of early comebacks affecting career trajectories, and Harden is also a victim of a hasty comeback.
Last season at the Nets, Harden was tormented by a hamstring injury. Playing the Rockets on April 1, 2021, Harden suddenly felt discomfort in his legs during the game, retired from the game, he took a two-game suspension, and then returned in a game against the Knicks. As a result, Harden played less than 5 minutes before feeling that the hamstring was wrong and retiring again. This time, Harden took an 18-game break until game 3 from the bottom of the regular season.
Playing bucks in the second round of the playoffs, Harden played less than 1 minute in the first game with a recurrence of old injuries, and he was suspended for 3 consecutive games. Harden's hamstring injury was not good at all, but after Irving's ankle injury, Harden chose to return to the line of fire. From the last three games of the series, Harden could not play at all, but he still fought for 46 minutes, 40 minutes and 53 minutes. According to Harden himself, his hamstring injury was a second-degree strain.
The hasty comeback has caused great damage to Harden, harden has been recuperating throughout the offseason, and the lack of systematic training for a long time has directly affected Harden's state this season. This season, Harden once again felt that the hamstring was wrong, and the repeated problems with the hamstring directly affected Harden's game mentality. After Harden joined the 76ers, 76ers coach Rivers also noticed this, and he believes that Harden is now unwilling to play at the limit speed, and he is worried about getting hurt again.
"Harden isn't in the best physical condition right now, with three weeks left in the regular season, and our goal is to get him back to his best when the playoffs come," Rivers said. It is reported that the 76ers medical team found Hamstring Injury Expert Simon Rice to help Harden, but so far, Harden has not overcome the physical and psychological effects of hamstring injuries.
Hamstring injury not only affects Harden's breakthrough, but also affects the effect of his weapon retreat step shooting, retreat step needs leg strength, Harden this season dry pull three-point only 33%, retreat step three-point shooting rate is only 35%, which is inseparable from hamstring injury.
Blowing penalty scale, Harden really adapted?
This season, the league introduced new rules that restrict unnatural shots from making fouls, and Harden was one of the league's hardcore targets. At the beginning of the season, Harden's foul making was indeed affected, but as the schedule deepened, Harden gradually adapted to the scale of blowing penalties, and his number of free throws continued to increase. By the time Harden left the Nets, his average number of free throws per game had risen to eight, higher than last season.
After arriving at the 76ers, Ha has 9.9 free throws on the field, and the number of free throws is the highest since the 2019-20 season. From this data alone, Harden has adapted to the new version. But in fact, the average number of free throws per game is deceptive.
For example, in the two hard battles against the Nets and the Suns, Harden is 10-of-0 in the penalty area and 6-0 in the box. For those teams that know Harden and have strong defensive discipline, they are not afraid of Harden's breakthrough to create fouls, they will pay great attention to hand moves, do not give Harden the opportunity to make fouls. Because Harden habitually makes contact when he breaks through to hit the basket, rather than directly completing the layup for the purpose of completing the basket. Once the referee does not blow, Harden's layup becomes a ridiculous shot. Today Harden has several breakthroughs by opponents but not fouls, so hardened that harden frequently finds referees to talk about.
Harden's inefficiencies in the penalty area are also related to the physical reasons mentioned earlier. Harden has never been a player who breaks through by accelerating in a straight line, but he has a strong sense of rhythm. When Harden was jealous of the hamstring injury, his breakthrough was difficult to directly shake off the defender. Against the defender hard and not to get a whistle, Harden can only admit it.
The lineup configuration, Harden is difficult to get away with
Over the years, as a product of the magic ball theory, Harden's style of play has determined that he needs the team to open up space. Because Harden does not have the ability to force a hard solution from mid-range, and he does not have the will to do so, he must rely on his teammates to make room for him to break through and pull back.
In the first half of the season at the Nets, Joe Harris's injury, Kyrie Irving's suspension and then unable to play at home, Kevin Durant's knee injury, various reasons led to the Nets offensive space problems. Harden couldn't burst in, and when he suddenly stopped the ball at the free throw line, he was clipped by a mistake to cut out a highlight.
After Harden came to the 76ers, when The Three-pointers of Maxi and Niang exploded, the space problems of the 76ers were not obvious, and that time was the honeymoon period of the 76ers. But as the schedule deepens, opponents' research on the 76ers becomes more and more thorough, and the weakness of Sable's non-spatial point on the offensive end is fully exploited by opponents. Tobias Harris's weakness of not being good at catching shots was also exposed. Suddenly, Harden was facing another space problem.
Today's battle with the sun, the problem is very obvious. Although Harris scored 17 points efficiently, he only made 1 of 5 shots outside the three-point line, and his offense basically came from the inside of the mid-range strong shot. Danny Green shot 2-of-7 from three-point range, With Niang being focused on just one three-point shot, Milton 1-of-3 from three-point range and Maxi on 3-of-10 from three-point range. There are problems with the 76ers space, and the Sun can unscrupulously pile up heavy defenses against Harden and Embiid.
Especially in the fourth quarter, the Sun used some joint defense, and the 76ers, who were originally only ranked 19th in the league and were not good at attacking and defending, had no way. At the crucial moment, Embiid was forced by the joint defense to choose the pass, and the shooter did not score. Harden was forced to pass the ball in the face of the joint defense, and Maxi did not score three points. The 76ers' two biggest stars can't directly decide the game in front of the joint defense, and can only hand over the fate of the team to their teammates.
epilogue
Judging from the reports of the US media and Harden's own interviews, Harden, who admits that he is aging, may no longer have the heart to be the boss of the team. For Harden, who is getting older and more injured, this is not necessarily a bad thing, but the outsiders who are used to Harden's big killings are not used to this, and they are still demanding Harden by the standards of MVP stars.
According to ESPN, from joining the Nets last season to joining the 76ers this season, Harden is constantly sending a signal to the outside world: Harden no longer wants to do the ball-holding big core attack and passing, and he prefers to play the second boss than to be the boss of a team. Harden's play at the Nets and 76ers is closer to an offensive point guard, and he has said in public more than once that as he gets older and injured, he is ready to say goodbye to the big core play with the ball, and is willing to give durant and Embiid a core star.
So, perhaps it's time for everyone to accept the reality that Harden can no longer play like the Harden of the Rockets era. When Harden decided to leave the Rockets, harden, who averaged 20+ shots per game and could get 30 points and 10 assists, was a thing of the past.
This reality is hard to accept simply because Harden is only 32 years old.