The regular season entered the final stage, the East ushered in a strong dialogue, and the 76ers traveled to the road to challenge the Cavaliers.
Before the game began, the 76ers beat the Hornets by a big score, finally ending a three-game losing streak, stopping the downward momentum and sitting in the fourth position in the East, and Harden also played more of a tandem role in the system.
On the other hand, the Cavaliers, as the big dark horse in the East this season, the team is plagued by injuries, and has fallen to seventh in the East before the game, and both teams need more victories.
As soon as the game began, the Cavaliers, who were sitting at home, showed their determination to win, playing a perfect 10-0 start, but the 76ers were also in good shape, and successfully forced the point difference to 2 points at the end of the first quarter.
But in the second quarter, the Cavaliers continued their form, once again pulling the point difference into double digits, but the 76ers blossomed inside and outside, and at the end of the half, the point difference was reduced to 6 points.
Easy side to fight again, the Cavaliers feel declined, the 76ers around the inside Embiid to help the team in the third quarter to complete the counterattack, the last quarter of the two teams played you and me, the score has been very sticky, and finally the 76ers with the key moment Ofbour's defense to beat the Cavaliers 112-108.
With this win, the 76ers became the fourth team in the East to pre-empt the top six positions, the first three teams being the Heat, Bucks and Celtics.
As a result, Harden has led his team to the playoffs for the 13th consecutive season, and he has never missed a single season in his career.
With 13 consecutive seasons in the playoffs, Harden is number one on the active list, with Paul, Danny Green and Iguodala tied for second with 12 attempts.
Harden also played his own style in this game, playing 40 minutes in the whole game, only 4 of 13 shots, but in the case of only hitting 4 goals, Harden still handed over a triple-double of 21 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
It was Harden's 11th triple-double this season and the 69th triple-double in his career, with 11 of 12 free throws.
Although for some fans, Harden's play style does not conform to aesthetics, from the actual leadership effect, Harden has indeed maximized the influence under the effective number of shots, and it is done within the reasonable range required by the rules.
As can be seen from the last two games, Harden is completing the transformation and beginning to adapt to the 76ers' system and playing style, as far as possible to complete the interior core Embiid.
After all, after frequent hamstring injuries, Harden's dominance on the offensive end has declined so badly that it cannot be compared with the current Embiid.
But as the initiator of the ball, Harden's big picture view and dismantling of the defense are still top notch, and the blocking between him and Embiid is the key to breaking through the Cavaliers' defense.
Embiid also showed absolute dominance in the game, playing 38 minutes, shooting 12-of-26, scoring 44 points, 17 boards, 3 assists and 5 blocks.
It was embiid's 11th time this season that he handed over at least 40+10 stats, becoming the third-most player in a single season since the ABA and NBA merged in 1976, behind Westbrook (12) and Moses Malone (12).
It was also the second time Embiid had handed over at least 40 points, 15 boards and five blocks, becoming the fifth player to achieve this achievement since 1990, the first four being O'Neal (3 times), Ewing (2 times), Howard (2 times) and Thick Brow (2 times).
And in Philadelphia's 40-year history, only three have ever cut at least 40 points and 15 rebounds in a single game, including Embiid 11 times, Barkley and Moses Malone a total of 10 times.
If you count three three-pointers, Embiid is the first player in league history to be able to deliver at least 40 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks, plus three three-pointers.
Such a data performance, so that Embiid averaged 30.2 points per game, successfully surpassed the alphabet brother, only 0.07 points away from james in front of him, considering that James is once again in an ankle injury, it is not easy to keep the scoring king.