'James being James': Harden turns back clock as huge scoring night evens Sixers series with Heat
Published: May 9, 2022 US time
Publisher: the Athletic
Article author: Richa Hoffman
Article translated by de Gaulle
Before the fourth game of the series against the Heat, 76ers head coach Doug Rivers was interviewed in the press room. A reporter asked how the Heat would deal with James Harden in the middle and long range if the Heat switched defenses in the game, where Firth and his coaching staff wanted Harden to deal with such a situation. Is it to let Harden directly hold the ball and play one, or let him pass the ball out?
"We definitely still want him to be able to complete the tactical set-up in these rounds," Rivers said, "Andebayor is a great defensive player, which is why the other side adopts the strategy of changing defenses, they are to make a team with both speed and stature advantages face James (Harden)." This is obviously not the alignment we want to have on the pitch, and it does happen many times on the pitch. ”
Rivers's statement is basically to "clearly" Harden that when there is a one-on-one situation with Adebayor, do not fight alone, but better complete the tactical arrangement. Because in the first three games of the series, Harden's offensive efficiency against the Heat big man can only be described as dismal. Coupled with harden and Embiid's blocking and dismantling cooperation is the starting point of many tactics of the 76ers, Adebayo will appear in front of Harden from time to time, creating a lot of trouble for the overall offense of the 76ers.
However, after watching the fourth game of the series, especially the fourth quarter of the fourth game, Rivers's thinking may change, and he may even take the initiative to create a confrontation between Harden and Adebayor in the subsequent series. Because in this battle, Harden seems to have finally found a way to deal with Adebayor, and more importantly, he has found his familiar offensive rhythm. For example, in the middle of the fourth quarter, Harden took out the signature retreat three-pointer, hit a shot on Adebayo's head, and pulled the point difference to double digits.
A few rounds later, as the Heat narrowed the gap to five points, Harden faced Adebayor on the offensive end. Originally, Harden pulled the opponent's center to the outside line, which meant embiid could find a misplaced opportunity on the inside. However, the Heat's defense is very flexible, and in the moment when Embiid is in the position to the Heat's small guard, there will be other big men to change positions, never giving Embiid an easy chance to misplace.
At this point, with 24 seconds left on offense, Harden had to face Adebayor to perform a single. The three-point shot in the front of the retreat step prevented Adebayor from pulling the defensive distance too far, and this gave Harden the space and opportunity to break through. He dribbled the ball to the side of his right hand, and after shrugging off Adebayor, Harden finally hit a layup with his left hand.
Compared with the regular season, the more the playoffs are played, the more they tend to "simplify the complexity". Because in the process of continuous progress, in the series of repeated entanglement with opponents, each team will continue to summarize and adjust, plug their own loopholes in time, and finally presented on the court, most of which are the least harmful to their own side, while making the opponent the most uncomfortable game strategy and method.
Specific to the Heat and the 76ers, Harden repeatedly confronted Adebayor on the court, which may be the result the Heat hope to see. And through the 76ers head coach Rivers's pre-game statement can also be heard, such a match is obviously not the ideal situation in the minds of the 76ers. However, Harden used his performance to reverse the trend of the two teams in this set of alignments.
In the fourth game of the series, Harden shot 8 of 18 in a single game, including three-pointers on 6 of 10 shooting and 9 of 10 free throws, and one person scored 31 points. In the crucial fourth quarter, Harden scored 16 points to become the number one contributor to the 76ers' 116-108 victory over the Heat. "We tied the series," Harden said after the game, "and we let them feel the tension, it's that simple." ”
76ers head coach Rivers also changed his pre-game attitude after the game, saying bluntly that "James became James". Rivers' words are also well understood, as a former MVP and three-time league leading scorer, Harden's scoring efficiency has dropped a lot in recent seasons. After joining the 76ers through trades this season, not counting the fourth game of the series with the Heat, Harden has only scored 30+ once. Therefore, now in the key games again to give a single 31 points, no doubt let people see his former style.
But after praising Harden, Rivers added: "It's good that he scored high points, but if he can just score 20 points in a game and give 14 assists at the same time, that can also contribute a lot of points to the team, and we can also accept that situation." ”
So, for today's 76ers, when they brought In Harden in the middle of the season, they didn't expect him to score high points like he did in the Rockets, and what Rivers would have liked to see is the way Harden plays now — constantly blocking Embiid and sending empty connections, finding Maxi on the weak side from time to time, and delivering shells to pitchers on the outside in the process of defensive transfers. After coming to the 76ers, Harden's "usage" on the court was 24.9%, compared to his 40.5% use rate in the Rockets in the 2018-19 season, it is self-evident how drastic the change has been.
However, harden can still switch to his own offensive mode when the team needs it, and this fourth game with the Heat is the best example. "That's why he's here, that's why we're bringing him in," Embiid said after the game, "and since he joined our team, he's been adapting his own style of play to our needs." Tonight, he adjusted to scoring mode. Especially after considering the opponent's defense, he can also hit those difficult shots. He's been playing like this all his career, which is why we wanted him to be here in the first place. ”
At the start of the fourth quarter of the game, while the 76ers were still leading 89-85, their advantage was not obvious. In addition to the difference of only 4 points, Tobias Harris and Danny Green have foul trouble, and Embiid needs to rest off the court, so in the opening stage of the fourth quarter, harden is completely required to carry the team forward.
In the regular season, the 76ers have been performing badly during the time when they are dealing with Embiid's appearance. According to statistics, after Harden joined the 76ers, when Embiid came off the field and Harden led the team alone, the average net win score of the 76ers per 100 rounds was -11.6 points. So, when Rivers arranged Embiid to rest at the beginning of the fourth quarter of this fourth game, he probably expected that even if he couldn't keep a 4-point lead, as long as he didn't fall behind too much, Embiid would still have to play when he returned.
But beyond Rivers' expectations, Harden played very well when he led the team alone at the beginning of the fourth quarter, scoring 7 points alone and delivering 1 assist to help the team extend the 4-point lead to 12 points, which also won Embiid a 5-minute break. "As the series progressed, we became more and more confident," Harden said after the game, "and in the first two games of the series, we were a little overwhelmed by the whole team." But with Joel [Embiid] back to put the whole team together, we seemed to know what we had to look forward to, and we knew how to play on both ends of the floor. ”
Of course, the 76ers aren't going to get complacent about winning the last two games. Because they still have a lot of problems, such as the fourth game of the series, he has 16 mistakes in the whole game, and harden himself has 6 mistakes. Moreover, the Heat's play was also a bit out of order, with this team with excellent three-point shooting and only hitting seven of their 35 three-point shots in Game 4 of the series. All of this is a harbinger of a more anxious situation behind this series. However, Harden's play in game four of the series also brought more confidence to the 76ers.
"It's really fun to play with him, it's going to be a lot of fun to play," Embiid said of Harden after the game, "he was really what we did to win this game, he took over the game in the fourth quarter and played well." When he has the opportunity in his hands, he can always make the right choice and keep attacking. ”