"Climb" the pinnacle!
That's the impression James Harden made today.
In the Eastern Conference semifinals, the 76ers beat the Celtics 119-115 on the road to take a 1-0 lead. In the absence of Joel Embiid, Harden played against the sky, shooting 17 of 30 from the field, including 7 of 14 three-pointers, 45 points and 6 assists on 4-of-4 free throws, helping the 76ers fill the hole in the interior defense.
Throughout the game, the 76ers fought fiercely with the Celtics, and it seemed that the point difference was always close, but how rotten the 76ers' interior defense without Embiid was. The 76ers lost 66 points in the box and lost 24 points in the box. The scales of victory tilted in favor of the Celtics, but Harden managed to lead the team to victory by dreaming back to the Rockets' forced singles.
In fact, Harden in this game is not the same as the Rockets at his peak, the peak Rockets are obsessed with magic balls, offense is three-pointers, layups, free throws three-board axe, but today's Harden is full of mid-range shooting skill points.
Since the news of Embiid's injury, the outside world has been extremely bearish on the 76ers, and few people think that the 76ers can take a win from Boston, in large part because Harden is no longer the Harden of the Rockets era, and his box offense is extremely inefficient in the first round. Harden can't break through in the face of the Nets' group of stretched monsters, what should he do in the face of the Celtics' better defensive resources?
As it turned out, Harden was still underrated.
The outside world is not optimistic about the 76ers, but the 76ers themselves have confidence in Harden. In the regular season, Harden's playing Celtics gave hope to the 76ers, and when Harden was a ball carrier, the Celtics changed defenses 73 times, which is a record number of defenses they have changed against a player. Harden scored 1.17 points per round and was extremely efficient. You know, the Celtics conceded only 0.95 points per round when changing defenses in the regular season, ranking among the top ten in the league.
Everyone knows that the three-point shooting is not very consistent, and Harden's three-point shooting efficiency declined last season due to injury. But this season, Harden's performance after coming out of the shadow of injury has given the 76ers hope. In the regular season, Harden shot nearly 38 percent from three-point range, and increased to 40 percent in the first round of the playoffs. If the Celtics let Harden single, the outcome may not be good.
The skinny camel is bigger than the horse, you know, Harden singled 7.8 times in the league 3rd in the regular season, scoring 1.1 points per round higher than Embiid, Alexander, Durant, Tatum and other stars.
If it is a bias for the outside world to look down on Harden, then the above data that can be found before the game is objective evidence that can be optimistic about Harden. Ultimately, the evidence shattered the bias.
Harden's three points one after another need not be repeated, this is Harden's ability. In fact, Harden's biggest surprise was his mid-range shot.
In this game, Harden made 5 shots, he understood that the Celtics' defensive strategy must be to block his breakthrough route without fouling, Harden always burst into the middle distance and stopped sharply, either directly dry shot three points, or stepped back to shoot three points, this kind of play that circumvents the loopholes in the magic ball theory makes the Celtics helpless.
Without Embiid, Harden's blocking offense can't play at all, Reid's ability to follow is certainly strong, but the Celtics insist on changing defenses, Harden can only single, which is a difficult one for the 76ers.
The second difficulty is that Embiid's basket protection enthusiasm is frequently complained about in the regular season, but his size advantage is there after all, Reid's body plate is put on the court, basically similar to Tatum, his body is closer to the striker, he is good at changing defense, but basket protection is not his strong point.
Looking at these shots, when the Celtics attack the basket, sometimes it is Maxi who assists in the basket, and sometimes Reid is directly pierced without a size advantage.
Harden's anti-heavenly performance solved two problems at once.
That's right, Harden's dry three-point shooting and dry three-point feel may not be able to continue. However, Harden's all-out win on the road is significant, because the 76ers have already grabbed home-court advantage, and Embiid may return in the next game, but the 76ers may give Embiid one more break after taking the initiative, and then return when he returns home. At that point, the full 76ers will play the Celtics again, and with home field advantage, it is difficult to say who will die.
Let's put it this way: Harden's outburst today may have changed the course of a series for the 76ers.