On May 5, Beijing time, the 76ers once again challenged the Heat on the road, and finally lost to the Heat 103-119, falling behind the Heat 0-2 by a large score.
After the game, Harden gave an interview to the media and summarized the reasons for the team's loss.
In this game, Harden played 41 minutes, he shot 6 of 15, 5 of 5 three-pointers, 7 of 7 from the free throw line, had 20 points, 4 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 block and also delivered 3 turnovers, after the game, Harden said: "We have a lot of opportunities, I think we play very hard (pretty solid). Aside from getting them to grab some offensive rebounds, I think we did a good job, started well, resisted the offense, played aggressively, and I think we did a good job of that, it just didn't go the way we wanted it, even though we wanted to win this one. We're still a confident team and have to go back home and do what we have to do. ”
Speaking about the main reasons for the team's loss, Harden said: "Praise the Heat's defense, but I've been saying that if we can hit the shot, we will have more space on the court, so the opponent must respect our shooters." ”
From Harden's statement, it can be seen that Harden is not very satisfied with the team's projection and defense, and has some intentions of throwing pot teammates. The 76ers shot a total of 30 three-pointers today, hitting just eight of them, or shooting 26.67 percent. In terms of the Heat, it hit 14 three-pointers, and the three-point shooting rate was as high as 44.8%, which is also one of the important reasons for the loss.
In these two games, the 76ers had to use Jordan Jr. to start due to Embiid's absence, and whether defensively or offensively, the elderly Jordan Jr. could not match Embiid, which was the main reason why the 76ers lost.
Although Maxi played well today, scoring 34 points, the Heat's Adebayo has scored 20+ points in two consecutive games, while on the 76ers, Reed and Jordan Jr. have only scored a total of 10 points, defensively, the 76ers have not limited the play of Adebayo and Hiro, after the game, 76ers head coach Rivers also criticized the team's defense, Rivers said: "You can make mistakes in anyone, but it can't be Taylor Hiro. ”
Asked about Embiid's comeback time, Rivers said he had a video call with Embiid today and that he didn't think Embiid had taken any of the steps needed for his comeback.
According to today's statistics, the Heat's bench scored 52 points, while the 76ers bench scored only 19 points, and if Embiid can't come back next, the probability of the 76ers successfully flipping the game when the bench can't help the team more is not very high.
As for many fans expressing their expectation of the rocket's outbreak, this is indeed unrealistic, because now the 76ers only have Harden to lead the team, the Heat will lock Harden at all costs, even if you want Harden to have a good play, you also need to wait until Embiid's return to reduce Harden's defensive pressure, otherwise, in the face of the Heat's iron-blooded defense, Harden is also difficult to play a good performance.
Fans, what do you think? Is it possible for "Rocket Boarding" to return? Comments are welcome!