The 22-23 regular season officially kicked off, and the first game of the opener was the Greens hosting the 76ers. As we all know, in this offseason, Harden helped Philadelphia sign Tucker, Harrell, House, Melton and others by taking a sharp salary cut, which greatly increased the strength of Philadelphia's bench, and they had a four-game winning streak in the previous preseason. On the other hand, the Green Army not only suffered a serious injury from Gallinari in the offseason, but the head coach was also suspended for misconduct. However, in today's game, the Green Army showed great team cohesion, and under the leadership of the double tanhua, they defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 126-117. The 76ers went high and low, and although Harden played an MVP-level offensive state in the first quarter, they still began to collapse in the third quarter and eventually lost, but exposing the team's problems early is not a bad thing for the 76ers.
In the first quarter of the game, Harris shot and cut down 2 points, and Tatum led the team to score 7 points in a row, not bad and soon Harden found a feeling on the offense, first stepped back to score 3 points, and assisted Harris and Maxi to cut consecutive points, in the second half of the first quarter, Harden completely exploded, faced with Gwey to shoot 3 points, and caused Griffin to foul 3 points, regaining MVP status, Harden cut 16 points in the first quarter, it is worth mentioning that this is Harden's 56th career first-quarter scoring cut by 10+. In the second quarter, Harden watched from the sidelines, Embiid teamed up with Melton against Tatum and Brogordon, after Brown scored 3 points, the Green Army overtook the score, Rivers immediately sent Harden, and soon Harris and Harden each scored 3 points, Maxi made a layup, Harris hit another 3-pointer, and the 76ers re-established the lead. However, in the second half, Tatum and Horford used their foot advantage to attack the inside one after another, and the two teams fell into a stalemate, and at halftime, the Green Army and 76ers tied 63, Harden scored 22 points, Harris 14 points, Embiid 11 points and 6 rebounds.
In the second half, the two teams were entangled, Embiid and Smart also had an altercation, Smart ate a technical criminal, and the smell of gunpowder between the two teams became stronger. However, the Green Army opened the gap again with the kill of the double prospect, Harden threw a shot to stop the bleeding for the team, but the 76ers then made a series of mistakes, Tatum teamed up with Smart to extend the margin to 12 points, Harden used free throws to score a drop in the bucket, and the 76ers trailed the Green Army by 10 points after 3 quarters. In the final quarter, Maxi scored 4 points in a row, and Gway's bottom corner 3 points immediately responded, the two teams came and went, the remaining 6 minutes of the game, Harden came on, but the 76ers scored 1 point for 3 minutes, only Harden's free throws, Brown and Horford's 3 points made Philadelphia completely desperate, and finally the Green Army won the 76ers at home.
Harden has used his best in 37 minutes, shooting 9-of-14 from the field, 12-of-12 from the free-throw line, 5-of-9 from 3-pointers, and 35 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. On offense, Harden has no reservations, showing strong dominance, not only can withstand Lowe's defense to score 3+1, but also counterattack to throw Griffin 3-point fouls, Harden from the offseason salary cut, has shown the determination of the new season, in the physical state also returned to the feeling of the Rockets, back 3 points also returned, in addition to being able to score, but also assist teammates to score, if teammates feel better, Philadelphia may win the game, Harden's assists can also be double-double. In addition, Harden's speed has increased significantly when pushing and counterattacking. The most important point is that Harden is willing to appear on the off-ball end for Maxi and Embiid, and in the game, in order to make room for Maxi and Embiid to attack, he pulled to the weak side to play the off-ball shooter, but the teammates in this game feel really bad, and Embiid needs to take responsibility for the loss.
Although Embiid had 26 points, 15 rebounds and 5 assists in 37 minutes, he contributed 6 turnovers and shot 1 of 6 from 3-point range, which shows that Embiid is in a singles dilemma this time, and the plus-minus of -13 is also the lowest in the game. In the game, Embiid always has the picture of asking for the ball just after halftime, but the green team has long been familiar with Embiid's routine, Embiid is behind him, and there is a defender around him who constantly harasses him, Embiid has no offensive space, in addition, Embiid has always been difficult to put down his body to cover Harden, and even if he goes to cover, the effect presented is difficult to threaten. In the third quarter, when Harden was attacking with the ball, Embiid wanted the ball to no avail, after Harden rushed into the inside and did not score, Embiid covered his face and hugged his head, looking disappointed and dissatisfied, it can be said that Embiid did not play a leading role in mentality and emotions. It can be said that the 76ers are absolutely wrong to use Embiid as the starting point for the offense, he does not have the ability to break the clip, and the 76ers have a lot less tactics than the green team, Harden and Embiid are looking for teammates after the offense is wrapped up, wasting a lot of teammates' empty shooting opportunities, which is a problem Rivers needs to think about.
However, it is not a bad thing that the team exposed problems early, and while the 76ers brought in a lot of teams this summer, the team does need time to run in, and Embiid needs to reduce the number of offenses with the ball, and Rockets players also need shooting opportunities, otherwise their role will be difficult to reflect. Questionably, Rivers told the media after the game that Harrell's preseason performance was excellent, which allowed him to earn playing time in today's game, but Harrell needs to play better. In this game, Harrell played 10 minutes off the bench, shooting 1-of-3 for 2 points and 1 block. Rivers' eyes were once again questioned by fans, and with only 3 shots in 10 points, it was to win trust and dump the losing pot on the bench, which was really Rivers. Overall, Rivers has not built a formed chemistry, still relies on stars to solve the problem, and the 76ers, like the Nets, have a strong lineup, but the coach is the biggest shortcoming.