On April 19, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs continued, with the 76ers facing the Raptors at home, and the G1 game, the 76ers won 20 points at home. And today's game, the 76ers started very passively, but Harden quickly took over the game, led the team to erase the point difference, completed the counter-overtaking, opened the point difference, and killed the suspense of the game. Such a game, just looking at Harden's data, is very general, but Harden has done it to make everyone satisfied and make Raptors players despair. In the fourth quarter, the Raptors had a 15-0 climax to close the gap, but then Maxi joined forces with Harris and Embiid to open the gap again. In the end, the 76ers defeated the Raptors 112-97. First of all, congratulations to the 76ers, who have won two games in a row, but the problems with this team are still there, but there are some shortcomings that Harden has covered up.
Let's start with Embiid. Played 37 minutes, 9-of-16, with 31 points and 11 rebounds. Embiid has been pinched since the first quarter today, Sika, Achua, Birch, Boucher have been in the wheel war to consume Embiid, but Embiid has been asking for the ball, signaling himself to single. There are two ways in front of Harden, taking advantage of embiid's situation of being caught in the middle, driving his teammates to blossom, and secondly, give Embiid, let him get points first, let him be satisfied. Harden chose the second way, Embiid's free throw, not thirsty, but Harden made a three-point foul, assisted Embiid to complete 2+1, assisted Green to bomb three points, Harden led the team can also erase the point difference. For a long time, Harden's first consideration was Embiid's ball possession. Of course, Embiid did play a little anxious, in the fourth quarter when the Raptors played a wave of 15-0 chasing only 11 points, Embiid offensive foul, jump shot missed, the ball was destroyed, but from Harden's point of view, he was fully supporting Embiid to play the data.
Maxi is indispensable! Today Maxi was 8-of-11 and had 23 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists. Maxy's outbreak began in the second quarter, when Green, Milton, Harris began to rain three points, Maxi finally used the counterattack to open the hand, after which Harden and Maxi led the team to quickly open the point difference. During that time, Harden has been reducing his holding time, either breaking through to create fouls, or suddenly finding Maxie to feed the cake, looking for Embiid to catch the dunk, and this fast pace, Maxi benefited the most, in the third quarter, Maxi continued to complete high difficulty scores, and the Raptors could not stop it. When the Raptors played a wave of 15-0 climax in the fourth quarter, it was Maxie who stepped forward, slammed a three-pointer to stop the bleeding, and led the team to play a wave of 8-0, once again to open the point difference. From Maxi's point of view, what was it like for him to dominate the offense? It must be said that Maxi's outbreak is inseparable from Harden, and it is difficult to expect Maxi to break the game himself, because icing on the cake and sending charcoal in the snow are two different things.
Of course, Harden really didn't feel good today, scoring 14 points on 3-of-9, including 1 point in the second half. Breakthrough throw missing, three-point missing, several offensive ends and Sika, Achuva confrontation, it seems that Harden is still a little reluctant, but Harden's feel will not affect the rhythm of the game. Harden's smart place is here, Embiid wants the ball, Harden gives Embiid, Harden does is if Embiid does not open this, what kind of coping and compensatory measures he has to do, such as his own strong attack, such as sudden points to find teammates. When the Raptors began to pinch Harden, Harden's ball out became faster, feeding Harris and Green continuously, making the Raptors defensive system useless. When Maxie opened this point, Harden could give the ball to Maxy and let Maxy organize, and Harden contributed more energy on the defensive end, stealing VanVleet, stealing Thaddeus Young, and assisting in the defense of Achuva. Harden has only one thing to do on this team: fill in the gaps!
That's what Harden is all about. In fact, looking at the data, Maxi, Embiid and Harris data are better than Harden, but without Harden, everyone can't play, Embiid is caught in a pinch, who can break the game to open the rhythm? Maxi couldn't find the right opportunity to hit the basket, who fed him the pie? The projection of Green and Harris, who will drive them in tandem? It can be said that Harden feels bad, but if Harden does not perform well, then I do not recognize, the 76ers won, Harden led the team to win in his own way, is it harsh enough to require Harden to get 30 + 15 data to be satisfied? If Harden is a big package, then Maxi, Embiid, and Old Rivers should be dissatisfied: Why are you playing around yourself? Old Rivers had complained about this before.
Of course, Harden has been contributing energy, but this 76ers still have some obvious shortcomings, such as the bench is really unavailable, Milton, Reid, Niang they are a bit unable to keep up with the rhythm, Sable road trip can not play, may have to activate Kolkmaz, the bench is weaker. Secondly, Embiid should play more sensibly, and the way to win the game is not necessarily to score only himself! Finally, Harden's own projection problem, in my opinion, is easy to solve, first of all, to increase the number of projections, but Harden is obviously more willing to lead his teammates, his number of shots is the lowest among the starting 5 people, as long as he can win, don't force Harden again. Now Harden can sacrifice his own data to make everyone around him satisfied. Keep up the good work and hopefully the 76ers will finish the series as soon as possible!