As the former 3rd scoring king, the 32-year-old Harden has already opened the fall mode? In the first two games of the Eastern Conference semifinals, Philadelphia, who lacked Embiid, lost two consecutive games to 2-0. Harden's downturn has become an important factor in the 2 consecutive defeats, he has only scored 4 points in the second half of two consecutive games, and now the US media Sports News has written a detailed interpretation of Harden's downturn, and used 3 major evidences to prove that Harden has been difficult to regain the peak mode of the past.
There are 3 big data that is clear evidence that Harden is no longer a super scorer:
Evidence 1: Harden lost two consecutive second-half games, scoring four points on 1-of-4 second-half in the first game of the Eastern Conference Semifinals and four points on 1-of-5 second-half in the second half of the Second Game of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Proof 2: Harden scored less than 25 points in 12 consecutive playoff games, setting a career record.
Evidence 3: After Harden's absence from Embiid, his offensive scoring stats declined and did not switch to super killer mode.
One of the labels of Harden's career was once a super scoring machine, he once won the honor of NBA scoring king for 3 consecutive years, and the last time was only two seasons ago, and the outside world's impression of Harden has a 40+ victory in a random game. In the high score of the top ten in the league after 2019, Harden alone occupies 8 seats.
Harden has now scored less than 25 points in 12 consecutive playoff games, setting a career record. In the last two Eastern Conference semifinals, Harden has only scored 16 and 20 points respectively, and he has been in a slump in the second half for two consecutive games, scoring 4 points on 1-of-4 and 1-of-5 with 4 points.
Harden lost two consecutive games in the second half, and he could no longer find the state in which he could kill all four sides on the court, and he also seriously lacked lethality in the game. According to the distribution of Harden's shots in the second half of the second round of the second round, Harden only hit one goal under the basket, and the remaining 4 balls were all iron, especially the two outside three-point shots did not accidentally fail.
The US media compared Harden's performance in the second half of the last two games to a role player who casually came off the bench for a few minutes, and the American celebrity also described it as, "At present, Harden is just a simple organizer, who can only create opportunities for other players on the court... He is no longer an efficient scorer. ”
Harden averaged 19 points, 10.2 assists per game, 13.2 shots per game, including 5.7 three-point shots and 7.2 free throws per game. Entering the second round, Harden averaged 18.8 points and 7 assists per game in the absence of Embiid, averaging 14 shots per game, including 6 three-point shots, and averaging 5.5 free throws per game.
Harden's data continues to decline, he is no longer the former regular season MVP and scoring king, has been unable to return to the super scorer mode, naturally can not reproduce the "Rocket Board" mode. Once Harden can't adjust in time, he still continues to perform like this, then Philadelphia will most likely stop the second round out, and will once again have no chance to compete for the championship.
(Text/Drunken Floating Life)