On May 5, 2022, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs continued, and in the Eastern Conference semifinals, Philadelphia faced the Heat away! Embiid still can't play in this game, and the team can still only rely on Harden's single core to lead the team. Philadelphia were at a disadvantage at the start of the game, allowing the Heat to score 31 points in a single quarter, seven points behind their opponents. In the second quarter of the game, Although Philadelphia played well in its own offense, it still could not prevent the Heat's offense, and it had lost 8 points at the end of the half.
In the third quarter that followed, the Heat's offense still had no way to be limited, and they scored 31 points again in a single quarter, and at the end of the third quarter, they were already 11 points ahead of Philadelphia! The game entered the fourth quarter, although Philadelphia had the heart to chase points, but there was still no way to force the score, and finally they lost to their opponents 103:119, and the big score was already 0:2 behind!
Harden on the Philadelphia side was average in this game, playing 41 minutes, shooting 6-of-15 from the field, and had 20 points, 9 assists and 4 rebounds. Maxi played 43 minutes, shooting 12-of-22 from the field, scoring 33 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist!
This game is indeed a bit unbeatable for Philadelphia, although Harden is in good shape in the half, the first half of 16 points is his first halftime score of 15+ in the playoffs this year, and 10 halftime shots also equal the highest shooting record of this year's personal half! But in the third quarter of the game, his number of shots became less, I don't know whether it was the team's arrangement, or his own choice, the third quarter only shot 2 times, got 2 points and 2 assists. In the fourth quarter, when he wanted to shoot, there was a physical problem again, the shooting was obviously shorter, and the efficiency was also significantly reduced! Harden only made 5 shots in the entire second half, and it was really difficult to lead the team to victory!
For Philadelphia, losing the first two games without Embiid was certainly expected, but the scene that fans wanted to see Harden carrying the team on his shoulders did not appear. The team needs to wait for Embiid to return before they have a chance to play against their opponents!