James Harden is going to be the lead story in the NBA this postseason.
Whether his first playoff stint with the 76ers is a huge success or it crashes and burns, people are going to talk about it either way. Everyone is going to be watching.
Harden forced his way out of a Nets team that was a big toe away from the Eastern Conference Finals and — let’s face it — probably would’ve made it to the Finals had they beaten Milwaukee in the playoffs last season.
It was clear that Harden thought the grass was greener on the other side in Philadelphia. To be fair, Brooklyn has been marred deep in chaos all year from injuries to Kyrie Irving’s refusal to be vaccinated and literally everything else.
But the fact is everyone wants to see if he was right — they want to see if the grass is really greener for him. And if it’s not? Woo boy, people are going to let him have it.
But, with all that being said, Harden said in an interview with Complex there’s absolutely no pressure on his back this postseason.
He doesn’t think he has anything to prove.
“I don’t (have anything to prove)… I don’t feel any pressure, I don’t feel any of that,” Harden says. “For me, it’s going out there and playing my game, trying to help my team win.”
Lots of people would disagree with this. One of them is Charles Barkley, who actually played in Philadelphia himself. And he had some wise words for Harden that came unprompted during the Inside the NBA halftime show.
Now, this is hilarious. Because this wasn’t even during a 76ers game. It came at halftime of the Pelicans-Clippers game. And Barkley felt so strongly about this he had to address it here.
Charles Barkley: “James Harden, you said don’t feel no pressure? Man, you better think again. Them people in Philadelphia ain’t gonna be having you going out there and playing bad.” 😂 pic.twitter.com/mfOSERK4nd
— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) April 16, 2022
“James Harden, you said you don’t feel no pressure? Man, you better think again. Them people in Philadelphia ain’t going to be having you out there and playing bad…You got more pressure on you than any player in the playoffs. Good luck now…but James, don’t tell that lie.”
Barkley is not wrong, y’all. Everybody wants to see what Harden is going to do. He orchestrated his way out of Brooklyn — again, for sound reasons — but people looking for results. Especially considering all that Philadelphia gave up for him.
And on top of that, you’ve got his poor playoff history to consider. For one of the best players in the NBA, he’s never quite been able to shake that.
So the time is now. He can say he has no pressure on him all he wants — it’s not true. The people are looking for results. Hopefully, for his own sake, he comes through.
