On May 5, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs continued, and the Heat and the 76ers series matchup came to the second game, and Embiid continued to miss due to injury in this game. After a four-quarter battle between the two teams, the Heat beat the 76ers 119-103 at home to give them a 2-0 lead on aggregate in the series. Butler had 22 points, six rebounds and 12 assists, and Adebayor had 23 points and nine rebounds. On the 76ers side, Maxi scored 34 points.
In this game, Harden played 38 minutes and 23 seconds, 6 of 15, 1 of 5 three-pointers, and relied on 7 of 7 free throws to get 20 points, 4 rebounds and 9 assists. He scored 16 points in the first half, his first halftime performance since the playoffs this year. However, he was always heavily defended by the Heat on the offensive end, so he couldn't get a good shot. He scored only four assists on 1-of-5 in the second half, and his performance in the first half was almost invisible.
In Embiid's absence, Harden undoubtedly needs to stand up for the team and contribute more on the offensive end. He had said before the series that he was going to play more aggressively. But the Heat seem to have seen that, perfectly pinning Harden on the offensive end. When Harden can't play a role on the offensive end, his contribution to the team becomes minimal. The current 76 people probably miss Embiid very much.
In the first quarter of the game, Harden was taken care of by the Heat players, as long as he held the ball, the Heat players adopted the bag clamp method, so that he could not easily shoot. We can even see that after Harden broke through with the ball, the Heat chose to take care of him in a 5-man package, making him extremely uncomfortable on the offensive end. Harden did not show too much offensive desire in the first quarter, scoring only 4 points on 1 of 4 in the quarter and making 2 turnovers. The Heat hit a 7-0 offensive surge in the final moments of the first quarter to open the points, and the first quarter ended with the Heat leading the 76ers 31-24.
At the beginning of the second quarter, the Heat continued to maintain the initiative on the court, holding an absolute lead in the point difference, and at one point widened the point difference to 14 points. Harden added to his offensive aggressiveness in this quarter, having 12 points, two rebounds and three assists on 4-of-6 shooting in the quarter to help the team narrow the point gap to less than 10 and not let the game lose suspense prematurely. Halftime ended with the 76ers trailing the Heat 52-60.
Easy side to fight again. The Heat continued to take care of Harden with the same strategy, and Harden couldn't even easily catch the ball, creating good scoring opportunities for his teammates. He only had 2 shots in a single quarter and scored 2 points, and he looked overwhelmed by the Heat's bag. The 76ers' scoring center fell entirely on Maxi, who scored 13 points in a single quarter. The Heat continued to hold the lead under Butler, and at the end of the third quarter, the Heat led the 76ers 91-80.
In the final quarter of the game, Harden was still in no form on the offensive end, and he even showed fatigue because he played for too long. He had just 2 points and 2 assists on 1-of-3 shooting in a single quarter. The 76ers were never able to close the points gap, and the Heat managed to laugh to the end with a double-digit lead. In the end, the 76ers lost to the Heat again on the road.
According to the schedule, the next match between the two sides will be moved to Philadelphia this Saturday morning Beijing time.
(Text/Yuwen Basketball)