In the critical stage of the competition for playoff qualifying, the Eastern Conference was once again a mess of porridge, the Celtics lost to the third place in the strong showdown with the Bucks, and the Raptors seized the opportunity, narrowly defeated Philadelphia 119-114, not only ranked against the Bulls to rise to fifth, but also had the opportunity to play against Philadelphia in the playoffs, which can be described as a dilemma for the latter.
Needless to say, whenever Philadelphia loses a key game, everyone will turn their attention to Harden's statistics, he shot 3 of 12 today, had 13 points, 4 rebounds, 15 assists and 3 fouls, and only 3 turnovers, plus or minus of +7.
At first glance, the performance was OK, but in fact, in the crucial fourth quarter, he not only threw three no sticks, but also broke through the layup cover, and contributed a low-level mistake in the last minute, allowing the Raptors to expand the score, causing the team to lose the initiative of the whole game.
In the last 5 games, Harley has scored 15 points, but the total 60 shots have only hit 19 goals, the shooting rate is only 32%, the total 33 shots on three-point shots hit 9 goals, and the three-point shooting rate is 27.3%, it can be said that Harden today has almost no deterrent power on the offensive end, and its sluggish feel is not the high external defensive intensity, but the serious decline in its own state.
When Philadelphia chased points in the fourth quarter, what we could see was basically Harden dribbling through the half, and then constantly looking for opportunities to pass assists, and the only one who really maintained a glimmer of hope with scoring was the young player Maxi, who turned around and shot backwards and dodged dunks in the fast attack.
Many consecutive games to contribute to the general data, some fans said that Harden's role in Philadelphia has become closer and closer to Paul, but objectively speaking, the 37-year-old Paul still has two points stronger than Harden, the first is that he has a mid-range jumper This killer skill, no matter what kind of situation, Paul can come up with his own tricks to help the team score, and Harden, whether it is a three-point retreat or a breakthrough layup after continuous crotch dribbling, has lost its original efficiency, so it affects the self-confidence of the attack.
On the other hand, Paul is often the team's most reliable ball-holding scoring point in key moments, and in the previous game of narrowly winning the Warriors, Booker was 5-of-20 in the game, and it was Paul who broke the deadlock with his personal ability and finally forced a victory.
If it is hard to say that Harden has been Paulized, then it is better to say that he has degenerated into a "poor version of Paul", in addition to the fact that he can stably contribute two double-doubles per game and contribute enough assists, his performance that is not tough enough at key moments and the overall assist-to-turnover ratio that is not good, there is a big gap with the real point guard god, which is a fact that has to be admitted.
In the middle of the season, Philadelphia traded Harden to match Embiid, based on a superstar inside and out, to create a real championship lineup, did not expect that only half a season, Harden with a continuous downturn to dispel the expectations of the outside world, according to this trend, Philadelphia can reach the Eastern Conference Finals has exceeded expectations.
"Whoever wants to be right against us in the first round, we accept the challenge." Rivers is still a qualified chicken soup master after the loss, but from his tone of voice can be heard more of a stubborn stubbornness, I hope that this team, which looks "not tough enough" from top to bottom, can reverse the fortunes in the playoffs that will begin soon.