In an NBA playoff game that just ended today, the Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Toronto Raptors on the road, and the series score was fixed at 4-2, successfully eliminating the latter, while the 76ers successfully advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals. Their opponent in the next round is the defensive Miami Heat.
In this game, James Harden played well, playing 42 minutes, shooting 7 of 12, 6 of 6 from the free throw line, and scoring 22 points, 6 rebounds and 15 assists, with a plus-minus of +38 team-high.
At the beginning of the season, no one would have thought that James Harden would choose to leave the Nets to join the 76ers in the season, after all, the temptation of Durant + Irving was too great, but everything he experienced during the season made Harden lose confidence in the Brooklyn Nets. Irving's faith, Durant's injury, and other factors made Harden see no hope of winning the championship at the Nets, so at the trade deadline, he chose to leave the Nets and join the 76ers to join Embiid to chase the championship.
In the regular season, James Harden played in 21 games for Philadelphia, averaging 22.0 points, 7.7 rebounds, 10.3 assists and 1.3 steals in 37.2 minutes per game, shooting 41.0% from the field, 33.0% from three-point range and 87.7% from the free throw line. Averaging 40.2 minutes per game in the playoffs, he contributed 18.4 points, 4.8 rebounds, 9.2 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.4 blocks, shooting 37.4% from the field and 37.9% from three-point range.
Compared with previous seasons, Harden has made too many changes, a few seasons ago he was the league's scoring king, a popular candidate for the league's MVP, and the league's well-deserved first quarterback, but who would have thought that in just three seasons, Harden has changed from a scoring player to an organizer who is bent on sorting out the team's offense.
Compared to other honors, the 33-year-old Harden wants a championship too much. At the Nets, Durant and Irving both have championship rings, so their desire for the championship is in some ways far inferior to that of James Harden, and it is precisely because of this that when Harden saw the Nets decadent, he chose to leave the Nets and go to Philadelphia. Now it seems that James Harden's departure from the Nets may be the right choice. His old club was swept out by the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs with a big score of 4-0, starting the offseason early, and the Nets are still full of problems, harden staying with the Nets may really just be a waste of his career.
Harden is now 33 years old, and in his career, what he lacks most is a championship trophy, so he will choose to join the 76ers. In the 76ers, Harden can team up with the league's top interior player Joel Embiid, as well as Doug Rivers, who has a lot of coaching experience, and the rising star Maxi, in addition, Harris, Sebel, Danny Green and other players are also very good defensive players, such a team that has both offense and defense, who wouldn't like it.