Although the 76ers had a thrilling elimination of the Raptors, the bad news came right away. According to the latest reports, their core player Embiid suffered a fracture of the right eye socket and a slight concussion in the sixth game of the first round, missing the game and temporarily having no comeback schedule. Embiid suffered a similar injury four years ago, missing 22 games.
Now Harden must shoulder the full responsibility, and harden has played several games in a row when facing the Raptors. Because the Raptors are lined up with five forward lineups, everyone on the court is 201-206 cm tall flanks, athleticism, defense is very hard, Harden is therefore very difficult to play in front of these people.
But the semifinals opponents of the Heat's outside line do not have such defensive resources. Butler as the core, at his current age, will not focus on the defensive end, Lowry has changed from small steel cannons to old steel cannons, Hiro and Duncan Robinson are limited by the physical qualities of white people, are representatives of strong offensive and defensive weakness. The Heat can't line up the front line, and if Harden can play the right-to-position advantage and play the offensive talent of the past, then the initiative will still fall to the 76ers.