Philadelphia's full lineup lost to the Pistons, with only 15 points in the offensive outage in the final quarter, while Harden contributed only 4 points and 4 assists in the second half, with no aggression.
In stark contrast to the Clippers, the 76ers were happy to flip the game, but this time Rivers chose to take the lead - blunt in the post-game interview, the team's transition period was not smooth, but the substitutes had limited shooting opportunities, and the greater responsibility should be attributed to Harden.
As soon as these words came out, a stone stirred up a thousand layers of waves.
The team exposed the problem, of course, it is right to point it out in time, but it is never necessarily the best way to deal with it, and it is very likely to sow the seeds of contradiction.
It has been predicted that if Harden has been "persecuted" by Nash for a long time, then he will run to the "reversal master" Rivers, and the roller coaster-like surprise of being overturned is no less than Nash's cerebral hemorrhage rotation.
Nash's coaching resume, the reputation of the industry naturally can not be compared with the champion coach Rivers, this is indeed true, but Rivers in recent years, the public opinion of the wind is also a few times up and down.
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But before Rivers could pull back a city, he gasped for breath, then crashed into the column of shame with his so-called luxury battleship, and was defeated by the Eagles in the Eastern Conference semifinals after walking philadelphia.
Word by word, in addition to the inability to lead the strong team to break through the bottleneck, Rivers has been criticized for his on-the-spot command and platoon deployment, and now the so-called "chicken soup master" title is no longer so glamorous.
All along, Rivers has been known as a "well-driven" helmsman, known for his ability to handle player relations, first-class team building, inspiring speeches, and enjoying a high prestige among black players.
But in recent years, during Rivers' tenure, the team's locker room problems have been frequent - the Simmons incident has been left alone, and there are Harrell "whistle" incidents further back, including the use of George and the balance of interests in dealing with the old and new forces.
Having said that, it's hard to blame Rivers for the rotation in this game, and the star crotch is the main reason.
But this way of potentially intensifying the contradiction is not advisable, and when the tragedy repeats, Harden will not be happy, and Rivers, who has lost control, may not be able to get rid of it.
At the beginning of the bearded join, Embiid's compatibility with his partner was questioned, and the core coexistence of the two main attackers with poor ball-free habits was thrown to Rivers to solve somewhat strongman problems.
Embiid is in the current year, it is difficult to replace Simmons, the core position is unshakable, philadelphia can only be his team in the future.
Ever since losing to Jokic last season, Embiid's eagerness to win an MVP & scoring champion has been written on his face, and you can't ask him to do too many "Capela-esque" attempts to cross the transition.
On the other hand, the cruelty of competitive sports lies in not thinking about the past but only about the current state, but unfortunately Harden left the peak forever in the Rockets.
There are many objective reasons for Harden's struggle during the Nets period, but the decline in subjective ability is the most fatal, and the two-way effect of explosive force loss caused by hamstring injury + natural increase in age is irreversible.
Falling from the MVP candidate to the best team All-Star, it no longer has the tactical value of being the first main attack point of the championship team, and now that it has lost the basic set of "letting go" of survival, Harden can only play the advantage of passing control to connect the whole team.
Assuming that Harden is "devastated", Philadelphia will have to take into account many considerations while providing the next renewal, and they will most likely not be able to afford the "sunk cost" of letting Harden go.
Of course, it's still too early to say, and Philadelphia still has a chance to justify choosing to end the era of "believing in the process," but what about Harden? Not bad gold body broken, with two unseemly departures to gamble on fame, if in exchange for a full loss, it is the most regrettable.
Thanks for your attention, welcome to discuss, Azhe is willing to "ball" with you to get the truth, all the way to the end of the world.