None of it was straightforward. The 76ers gave up a 16-point third-quarter lead. Embiid completed with 34 factors and 13 rebounds, however struggled from the sphere, taking pictures 11 of 26. And Jayson Tatum scored 22 of his 24 factors after halftime, practically main the Celtics to a crushing comeback victory. As a substitute, Harden shouldered the load for the 76ers.
“I’m at all times a competitor,” he stated. “I at all times need to win.”
Throughout the common season, Harden operated as a facilitator, averaging a league-best 10.7 assists per recreation. He was neither the scoring nor the 3-point-shooting machine that he was in a former basketball life with the Houston Rockets. As a substitute, he shaped a potent partnership with Embiid, the group’s centripetal power. All the things and everybody revolved round Embiid, for good cause, together with Harden.
Sport 1 of the 76ers’ sequence with the Celtics upset that steadiness in an odd and surprising method. Embiid had sprained his proper knee late within the first spherical and was sidelined, which meant that Harden apparently felt obliged to board his private time machine and journey again to his gluttonous, ball-dominant days with the Rockets. He torched the Celtics, scoring 45 factors whereas taking pictures 7 of 14 from 3-point vary to guide the 76ers to a slim win.
Embiid was again within the lineup for Video games 2 and three, and all of a sudden Harden appeared virtually too aware of his teammate’s presence, too passive and deferential. It hardly helped that Jaylen Brown affixed himself to Harden for lengthy stretches. In these two losses, Harden shot a mixed 5 of 28 from the sphere and a pair of of 13 from 3-point vary. Sport 3 on Friday was significantly grotesque. Harden routinely handed up open photographs. When he did launch a 3-pointer early within the fourth quarter, he barely grazed the entrance of the rim. Quite a lot of followers expressed their displeasure.
“I feel with anybody, for those who’re not making photographs, you hesitate at instances,” Rivers stated.
For his half, Harden defended his shot choice, telling reporters: “I’m fairly good on basketball instincts. I do know when to attain. I do know when to cross, so I’m fairly certain a number of it was the suitable play.”