The Raptors, who originally thought that they were unusually strong in the final stages of the regular season, would bring a lot of trouble to the 76ers, at least making this series look extremely anxious. But the truth is that at wells Fargo Center, the King of the North lost a total of 35 points in both games, most of the time in a passive beating situation. As the champion coach, Nick Nas naturally does not tie his hands, starting with defense, he successfully limited the Dendi combination in the first game, and in the second game, Harden only scored 14 points in 3 of 9 shooting, but he could not stand the perfect performance of Maxie G1 and Harris and Maxy in G2. It seems that the only one in the whole team, James Harden, is very difficult to be awkward, what happened to the former MVP?
Let's take a look at bearded report card, the first two games a total of 26 9, a total of 36 points, shooting only 34.6%. Obviously, this is not a true portrayal of his strength. It should be pointed out that harden has made a lot of contributions on the defensive end in the second game, 3 steals and 2 blocks of the report card, do not know also think that it is Seb's data column. It can be said that bearded man is really changing, trying to adapt to Philadelphia's game rhythm and system, and improving his enthusiasm to affect the course of the game, even on the defensive end that has been criticized.
On the other hand, the Raptors are a team with rich defensive resources and enviable depth of forward rotation, and the star Pascal Siakam started from defense, and Anunoby, Avachu, Boucher and even the injured and absent rookie Barnes are tall and fast players. Their rotational positions and quick defense are all a must. Even if three years have passed since the 2019 year of winning the championship, once the regular season has practiced the familiar set of Box-1, it can still make Curry want to die, so Harden played extremely awkwardly. Under the double bag, the play space is already very small, the most secure is to quickly divide the ball, mobilize the Raptors' defensive formation by transferring the ball, and the teammates are in such a good state, you can enjoy it, why not enjoy it?
So, we saw Harden efficiently score 14 points on 3-of-5 shooting in the first half of The Second Game, leading the team to establish a wave of victory, just when everyone was curious about how many points he would cut, the final round was shocked to find that it was still 14 points, and it was obvious that the laziness and relaxation of the bearded second half could be felt.
However, when raptors star Carter connected to the TNT studio, he pointed out sharply: "Next, Maxi will definitely be taken care of, his excellent performance is the price that Nas can't afford, and then Nas will definitely take action." That requires Harden to stay aggressive, he knows how to play, he has to play to the basket. ”
Carter's meaning is already very clear, Maxi's two perfect performances have attracted the attention of the Raptors team, and it is inevitable that his targeted deployment and chase and interception - each team can only have 5 players on the stage, and the Raptors who are in a disadvantaged body will inevitably wrap up Embiid, if Maxi also gets special care treatment, plus The big brother who can't be empty, then Harden's opportunity is coming. This is both an opportunity and a challenge for the beard, and the decline in defensive intensity means that there is no reason to excuse it if it can no longer come up with a decent report card.
Harden also talked about his performance in a post-game interview: "I want to play the right way to play, not only to see the points, but also to let my teammates participate in the game. The implication of this statement is that as long as he can win, he is willing to do anything. This year, he was under too much pressure because he left Brooklyn and needed too much to win and achieve results to prove himself. If, as Carter put it, the Raptors' defensive focus in the next game is tilted towards Maxi, then the "right way to play" will become Harden stepping up and taking the points he deserves. Can Harden now return to the state where scoring is like chopping melons and chopping vegetables?