Beijing time on May 5, the digital people on the road to face the Heat, Embiid absent in the absence of the game without suspense, Maxi in the Heat's home court to try to turn the tide but the result is not satisfactory, the young West Emperor double fists are difficult to defeat four hands, the current big score 2:0, the media will be the 76ers lost the spearhead pointed at Harden.
This season Harden transferred from the Nets to the 76ers, which is a deal that is optimistic about all the media, Harden has played a phenomenal performance when he first arrived, and in an instant the 76ers seem to have hope for winning the championship, but Harden is like a meteor flashing by, the end of the regular season, both offensive and defensive ends have become the black hole of the team, all fans hope that Harden can adjust in the playoffs to complete the counterattack, but at present it seems that Harden's performance is even worse than the regular season.
In the game on May 5, Harden had 20 points, 4 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 block and 3 turnovers, it seemed to be good, at least scoring scores, but don't forget that Harden is the current core scoring point of the 76ers, Embiid during the injury, he should play the cold temperament of the scoring king, but in fact, Harden scored 16 points in the first half of the game, and only 4 points in the entire second half, and he seemed to be struggling in the whole game. According to statistics, in the current 8 games of the 76ers playoffs, Harden has only two games shooting more than 40%. Not only did he lose the shooting threat, but his shooting percentage plummeted.
After the game, former NBA star Grant Hill said an intriguing passage when evaluating Harden's performance:
"Obviously, the old man of time is invincible"
We all seem to have forgotten what kind of player Harden is, his performance this season, let people forget that he has won the top score many times, in the playoffs to get 40+ like a probe, even Hill also commented that when he first met Harden, he realized that it was time to retire. Harden is indeed not young now, but just because of his rising age, he has "fallen to this point"? This is clearly not the case.
Harden's decline we have to look at it from two aspects, the first is the loss of athleticism, although Harden looks like a ground stream guard, but in fact, his athleticism is not bad, and his physical fitness in the guard is also very strong, which allows Harden to have a good confrontation ability, but after the leg injury, these advantages have disappeared, his weight is now too heavy compared to other guards, and the injured lower limbs cannot support him to move and fight quickly, and the athletic ability on which Harden is based is almost lost this season.
In addition to the decline in its own physical condition, the second most important problem is in the change of rules, this season the league supports confrontation, the difficulty of making fouls has risen greatly, and defenders are more willing to defend Harden closely, so that the shooting space left for Harden will be greatly squeezed, and the difficulty of shooting will increase proportionally. Of course, because of the relationship between age and status, Harden's shooting threat has dropped a lot, and the decline in shooting rate combined with the change of rules has greatly reduced Harden's scoring ability from the unfavorable level.
But in fact, as a scoring king level player, Harden has a good enough arsenal, the sudden change of this season obviously makes him unable to adapt, but such a state will not become the end of Harden, he has the opportunity to adjust himself, but the length of this time is currently unknown, now the 76ers are in a very unfavorable situation, the team needs Harden to play the former self. Time is running out for Harden and the 76ers.