Harden is in charge again
How much success James Harden still has, this is probably a topic that many people care about. As the MVP of yesteryear, the Rockets' well-deserved core, and one of the best scorers in NBA history, James Harden is a well-deserved superstar. However, after leaving the Rockets, Harden's performance has not been satisfactory, especially in last year's playoffs, the playoffs after the return of hamstring injuries, which can only be described in one word. This season, too, it's the same.
However, there are still many people who feel that Harden was the team boss and the way of playing with the ball core, but now he is the second boss, a simple organizer, and the data will naturally decline. However, in the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Heat, Embiid was injured and could not play, in such a situation, Harden naturally became the team's boss again.
The 76ers fiasco was a lot of problems
Before the game began, Harden revealed a message in an interview that he was already familiar with the current role, in other words, he couldn't go back. Without a bit of surprise, the whole game came down, facing the defense of his old teammate Tucker, Harden only shot 5 of 13, 4 of 4 from the free throw line, and had 19 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists, as well as 5 turnovers. Such a performance, naturally sorry for the expectations of fans, finally the Philadelphia 76ers lost to the Miami Heat 92-106, losing the first game of the series.
The 76ers lost this game, which is naturally not Harden's problem. Without Embiid, the team only grabbed 37 rebounds, 10 less than the Heat. As for the three-point shot, it was even more disastrous 34-of-6, the worst record in team history. It is worth mentioning that the teammates received Harden's pass, and the three-point shot was 0 of 10, which is why Harden only had 5 assists in the whole game. However, these problems are not enough to hide the fact that Harden is depressed, he really did not carry the team.
In contrast, Harris's individual performance is much better, shooting 11-of-18, with 27 points, 6 rebounds and 1 assist, and is the team's leading scorer. But other than that, the 76ers only had Maxi score in double figures, with 19 points and 2 assists, Andon on the bench did not score a point on 7-of-0 shooting, and Reid only played 13 minutes to get 4 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists.
Harden learned Westbrook
After the game, a reporter asked Harden, there are only 4 free throws in the game, how did the Heat stop you from walking to the free throw line? Harden's answer: The next question. This is the signature answer of Wei Shao in the past, but now it has been learned by Harden, when Wei Shao was questioned, so most of the reporter's questions are more embarrassing, and now it seems that Harden is also developing in this direction. However, Harden still praised one person, that is, PJ Tucker, a teammate of the former Rockets. It is also because of Tucker's defense that Harden only has 4 free throws in the whole game, no way, too familiar.
Harden said: Tucker is Tucker, he plays tough. The Heat also posted a picture of Tucker defending Harden with the caption: Welcome to the kennel. Heat coach Spoo praised after the game: Tucker has a way of motivating the team, performing well on both ends of the game, and these performances are exactly what is needed to win the game. In this game, Tucker had 10 points, 7 rebounds and 1 assist, including 5 rebounds in the frontcourt, and hit 1 three-pointer in the left and right bottom corners, once again showing the style of the king of the bottom corner.
76ers head coach Rivers also said after the game that Harden could get more points, but we need to put him in a more advantageous position. In other words, in Rivers' view, Harden did not show aggression, at least in embiid's absence, Harden needed to come up with a better performance.