Embiid's absence has had a huge impact on the 76ers, but in the eyes of many people, this team also has the former scoring leader MVP Harden, if he can support the 76ers may not be unable to fight.
But Harden's performance in the past two games has been quite bad, the first game against the Heat 35 points and a half handed over 16 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists, including 5 of 13 shots, 7 of 3 points, and 5 turnovers; in the second game against the Heat, Harden played 41 points and a half, handed over 20 points, 4 rebounds and 9 assists, including 6 of 15 shots, 5 of 5 three-point shooting, fortunately, there were only 3 turnovers. But this data if compared to his Rockets period, it is not at all eye-catching, the old beard is 30+ at every turn, often able to play 40+, even under the bombardment of 50+, 60+, but now it is difficult to see him score 30+.
Statistics show that in 8 games in this year's playoffs, Harden's score has never reached 25 points. The last time he scored less than 25 points in eight consecutive playoff games in a single season, it was Harden during the Thunder in 2012, when he also played the role of sixth man. Therefore, the doubts about Harden have always been "incessant", everyone knows that in the absence of Embiid, Harden needs to contribute more points to beat the Heat, so why can't Harden erupt now?
There are two core reasons, the first is that Harden's physical condition has indeed declined, since the Nets with an injury to the playoffs, Harden has not been able to fully recover, from his performance on the court can be seen that Harden's explosive power is not as good as before, especially when you need to pedal the force, before you can easily pass through the two-person pinch, and even hang on to the defensive player to complete the end, but now it is really too difficult; and Harden has also taken measures to deal with his lack of explosive power, such as using small steps, large dribbles to get rid of defense But Spoo was extremely defensive against him, which was the second reason why he couldn't break out.
It can be seen that in the game, Harden holding the ball is often Tucker's single defense, but when Harden is about to launch an attack, he can see that the Heat's assistant defense players quickly come up to pinch the attack, which has to force Harden to play, even if he chooses to attack himself, but it is as difficult to break through to the box. Spoo was on the sidelines laying out tactics to the players, and we could clearly hear him say, "Build a human wall, I want everyone to see, I want Harden to see this human wall." "Looking at Spoo's defensive arrangement for Harden, it can be said that even if he is another star player, it is difficult to get a high score in the face of such a defensive treatment, and this is still a star who has lost his physical explosiveness.
In addition to Spoo, Butler also spoke about the Heat's defense against Harden in an interview, saying: "We did a good job of limiting his free throws, we made every shot difficult for him. You know, he's a superstar, he's going to shoot tough goals, but you can't be discouraged, he's been known for scoring for a long time. "I have to say that the Heat team has been very successful in this regard, and in two games, Harden has stood on the free throw line 11 times, which is basically the production of a game before.
So that's why Harden is willing to be a "green leaf" in the 76ers, Embiid is the team's first offensive core, and Harden's task is to organize the whole team's offense, as former NBA player Grant Hill said: "Obviously, the old man of time is invincible. "It's almost impossible for Harden to want to go back in time, and in order to be able to stay in the NBA, he also has to make changes, and it's clear that Harden is already doing that now.