On May 5, Beijing time, the 76ers lost 103-119 in the second game of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Heat, and after these two games, the 76ers were already behind by a large score of 0-2, which also meant that the 76ers needed to win at least one of the next two home games to avoid being swept.
Due to Joel Embiid's absence, the 76ers were clearly unable to keep up with the Heat on the offensive end, and in the first half alone, the 76ers trailed the Heat 52-60, and the 76ers were also unable to close the score in the next two quarters.
In addition to Embiid's absence, the 76ers' offensive end is also in large part because James Hardley can't give the team enough help in scoring. In the game, James Harden had 20 points, 9 assists and 4 rebounds on 6-of-15 shooting from 41, and he only had 1-of-5 shooting from outside the three-point line.
Even if Harden still has a good performance in assists, he is already shooting efficiency in scoring, and he is even far less than Teres Maxie, who scored 34 points on 12-of-22 shooting.
It is no secret that Harden "pulled his crotch" in important games such as the playoffs, and after scoring only 20 points in this game, Harden has scored less than 25 points in 12 consecutive playoff games, and as a player who can easily cut more than 30 points in the regular season, such a scoring performance is indeed difficult to satisfy.
Not only that, but in the 29 games Harden has played for the 76ers so far, he has not had a game with more than 20 shots.
So after that game, considering that the 76ers' history has never completed a comeback without falling behind 2-0 in the playoffs, it also gives them only a 7.1% chance of turning over in this series against the Heat. At the same time, the performance of the 76ers on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends in Embiid's absence is enough to prove why Joel Embiid is the player who should win the regular season MVP.