They needed a superstar. They got a super dud.
They had Batman. Robin was a no-show.
The $33 million man? The Sixers are two losses away from making a $200 million mistake.
Boston battered Philadelphia 114–102 on Friday to take a 2–1 series lead. Joel Embiid, in his second game back from a knee injury, was excellent. He scored 30 points. He pulled down 13 rebounds. He blocked five shots. Dragging around his right knee, with a bulky knee brace hidden under a long white sleeve, Embiid slogged through 39 minutes. On a night the NBA formally crowned him MVP, Embiid gave the Sixers a chance.
And James Harden took it away from him.
Officially, Harden finished with 16 points and 11 assists. Whatever. He made three of his 14 shots. He connected on two of his seven threes. He had five turnovers … in the first half. He hesitated on jump shots. He turned down layups. The aggressive, sharpshooting player that led the Embiid-less Sixers to a Game 1 win? Gone. When Harden made mistakes, he pointed at teammates. Harden’s shooting percentage in the last two games (17.9%) is the lowest over a two-game stretch in his career.
“He’s completely indecisive,” ESPN analyst Doris Burke said in the third quarter.
Let’s put it more plainly: Harden stunk.
No, he wasn’t a one-man iceberg. Tyrese Maxey finished 4-of-16 from the floor. But Maxey was supposed to be good. Harden is supposed to be great. He’s an ex-MVP and scoring champion who willed Philadelphia to a win in the series opener. Since then he hasn’t shown up.
Credit Boston. After Game 1, Jaylen Brown went to coach Joe Mazzulla. Let me defend Harden, Brown said. Brown knew Marcus Smart was banged up. He wanted to lighten the load. Mazzulla agreed. In Game 2, Brown pressured Harden. He bodied him. He forced Harden to work around his 6'7" frame.
“We’re just trying to make him work,” Mazzulla said. “He’s a great player who can score at all three levels. We’re just trying to make him work as much as we can. Try to keep him off the free throw line.”
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Said Sixers coach Doc Rivers, “There were a couple of times we came out of a timeout and thought we had a lane. I thought we were trying to snake dribble more than just got straight down and make plays. That’s something we talked about. Getting into the paint with force and with pace. And if they came, make plays.”
They didn’t. Harden didn’t. The Celtics are better than the Sixers. Including the regular season they have taken five of the last seven from Philadelphia. Embiid needed to score 52 against a Brown-less Boston team to win late in the regular season. And the Celtics’ vaunted defense had to collapse for Philly to take Game 1.
The Sixers need Harden. Badly. Not to be good. To be great. Postseason vanishing acts are becoming all too common for Harden. His crunch time numbers are bad. In significant games, they are worse. On Friday, Embiid said his advice for Harden is to keep shooting. “You can’t get too high, you can’t get too low,” said Embiid. His message to his team: Play better.
“Players have to show up,” said Embiid. “I got to do my job … you can make any adjustments you want. But if the players don’t execute and they don’t show up and we don’t make shots, that’s on us. I got to be better. We all got to be better.”
Sunday’s Game 4 isn’t big for the 76ers. It’s massive. They lose, it’s over. They aren’t taking three out of four against the Celtics, not with two of them in Boston. And Philly is at a crossroads. It has a pair of superstars and a pricey roster that has never played in a conference finals. Harden will enter free agency this summer likely looking for the four-year, $210 million deal the Sixers can offer him. And with Houston reportedly sniffing around—we can discuss later how crazy that idea is—the Sixers will have to decide if he’s worth it.
Harden has played in some big games in his career. In Oklahoma City. In Houston. In Brooklyn. Sunday will be one of his biggest. Philly need to match Boston’s intensity. “They are winning the possession game overall,” said Rivers. They need Maxey to step up. They need the offense to flow more fluidly and, said Embiid, “not hold the ball so much.”
But they need Harden. They really need Harden. Harden’s NBA future is at stake in this series. Bounce back, and he will be richly rewarded to operate as Embiid’s sidekick for years to come. Lose, and his run in Philadelphia could be over. Sunday is a big game for Harden. He can’t wilt.
