Harden was questioned again
The Philadelphia 76ers ended a three-game losing streak with a 30-point win over the Charlotte Hornets in the last game, and James Harden's individual performance was praised by Rivers. But if you remember, after the 76ers lost to the Pistons, Rivers publicly said that the performance of the team's bench lineup was not bad, just there were no shots, and Harden was playing alone. Crawford also spoke openly that Harden hadn't figured out where he was on the team and hadn't found his rhythm. So Harden once again came to the cusp of the storm.
From the Houston Rockets to the Brooklyn Nets, Harden has caused dissatisfaction among many fans because of god's ghostly play. Now that he's in Philadelphia with the 76ers, Harden's performance is still the same, which makes people more and more skeptical about him. The only way to get rid of it is to lead the team to win consecutive games.
The 76ers locked up the playoffs
In this game, the 76ers are going to challenge the Cleveland Cavaliers, Garland is playing a dreamy season, a young super point guard, is becoming Cleveland's hope. But who would have thought that Harden's state was very bad, after the first quarter came up, 3 shots 0, two of them shot under the basket, relying on free throws to get 2 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist, Embiid's feel was also very bad, 6 shots and 1 was 4 points and 4 rebounds, so the 76ers only scored 21 points in this quarter, 2 points behind the Cavaliers.
After returning from the second quarter, Harden still did not find his touch, 6 shots 1, relying on free throws to get 8 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists, but fortunately Embiid recovered in form, 13 points and 4 rebounds on 3 of 5 shooting, even so, the 76ers still trailed the Cavaliers by 6 points at the end of halftime. In the second half, Harden simply had only one shot, got 3 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, but Embiid took 14 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks, and Maxi also had 8 points and 3 assists, so the 76ers successfully surpassed 1 point at the end of the third quarter.
After returning from the last quarter, Harden single-handedly led the team to play for more than four minutes, although it did not open the point difference, but also did not let the Cavaliers complete the counterattack, and then Embiid returned to the court and immediately continued to dominate the game. In this quarter, Embiid shot 5 of 9, bombed 13 points, 5 rebounds and 1 block, Harden also had 8 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists, and finally the Philadelphia 76ers narrowly defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 112-108, successfully won 2 consecutive wins, and locked up the playoffs early.
Three pairs are difficult to hide the low efficiency
James Harden got a triple-double, 21 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, but even so, it could not hide his inefficiency, 4 of 13 shots, 7 of 7 three-pointers and 2 of 1, if not 12 shots of 11 free throws, and got the victory, then this game, Harden will attract a lot of criticism. Overall, Harden completed the redemption in the last quarter and helped the team very well. Coupled with embiid, the emperor bombarded 44 points, 17 rebounds, 3 assists and 5 blocks, so the 76ers could narrowly beat the Cavaliers.
After winning this game, the 76ers locked up the playoffs early, which is also the 13th consecutive year that Harden has reached the playoffs, and he has never missed the playoff stage in his career, but he has never won a championship trophy. For the Cavaliers, Garland had 23 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals, LeVert had 18 points, 3 rebounds and 7 assists, Stevens had 18 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists, Markkanen also had 16 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists, and Love had 12 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists. After losing this game, the Cavaliers wanted to get out of the play-offs, and the difficulty increased a lot.