On May 5, Beijing time, Harden was again verbally criticized, he was ridiculed and went downhill, and was defeated by the old man of time. But why Harden is lost, the following four charts may uncover the root causes.
In the second game with the Heat, Harden shot 6 of 15 from the field, 1 of 5 from three-point range, and only had 20 points and 9 assists. Importantly, Harden scored only four points in the second half, 1 of 5. In the second half of the last game, he scored 1 of 4 and scored only 4 points.
Harden's continued sluggish performance is obviously due to the Heat's defense. Once in the middle of the game, Heat coach Spoelstra shouted to the players, "I want Harden to see that wall." "Remember the famous deer hunting plan of the Heat in the playoffs that year, building a human wall in front of the alphabet brother, so that the Greek monsters were like trapped beasts in a cage, and they could not make it powerful.
Today, the heat is doing the same, and even intensified. Without Embiid, the Heat could have been more unscrupulous in packing Harden.
The following interception of the last 1 minute and 46 seconds of the half, the 76ers four offensive screenshots, you can see how difficult Harden is. The first picture of Harden held the ball outside the line, Vincent pasted him, at this time, the heat's other 4 people defensive attention is all on Harden. Adebayor and Tucker formed the first line of defense around Vincent, the two were always ready to pack, and the basket Hiro and Butler also watched Harden's every move closely.
Figure 1
Figure 2
In the second picture, Harden faced Martin's defense, holding the ball to break through, this time the other 4 people on the Heat field, shrinking the defense, forming a circle of encirclement, empty in the middle, luring Harden into it.
Figure 3
In the third picture, Harden held the ball on the outside line, Oladipo arced the top defense, and the other 4 people of the Heat were paying attention to Harden. In the fourth picture, Harden held the ball outside, Oladipo pushed on, and the other 4 people stood in a diamond-shaped position, which did not give Harden room to break through.
Figure 4
That's right, it's the space that's blocked, making Harden lose the threat. Of course, the lack of strength of teammates is also the reason why Harden is getting more and more lost, and after the game, he helplessly said, "If we can hit the shot, our field space will be more." In this battle, the Heat's entire team scored 8 of 30 three-pointers, shooting less than 30%. Teammates can't shoot, Harden 1 pick 5, the opponent is still the first in the East, it is not surprising that he is lost.
But Harden has made a promise, "We'll come back here and play G5." "Can he do it? See.