A 114-102 home loss during Game 3 on Friday prevented the Philadelphia 76ers from taking control of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Boston Celtics. The Sixers must win Sunday’s Game 4 to avoid falling behind 3-1 in their NBA playoff series.
James Harden’s struggles continued as he shot just 3-14 from the floor and scored only 16 points. He failed to bounce back from a poor 2-14 shooting performance in the Sixers’ Game 2 loss. It’s been the worst shooting two-game stretch of his career immediately following his impressive 45-point display in Game 1.
“We didn’t score the basketball,” Harden said. “We didn’t play well offensively. Simple.”
As a team, the Celtics have a very strong cast of perimeter defender that are making things challenging on Harden, with Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, and Derrick White setting the tone. Does Harden feel that Boston’s personnel is causing his struggles?
“Nope,” Harden replied.
NBA NEWS & PLAYOFFS: James Harden, Philadelphia 76ers & Boston Celtics Updates
Additionally, Harden isn’t just missing the shots he’s taking — particularly in the paint — he’s passing up open looks often. For a former scoring champion and ultra-high usage threat, he hasn’t been nearly the same.
“I don’t know,” Harden said. “I gotta watch the game, but I’m pretty good on basketball instincts. I know when to score. I know when to pass so I’m pretty sure a lot of it was the right play.”
Harden needs to improve for the Sixers to have any chance of surviving this series. In Game 3, he added 11 assists and six rebounds, but again, as a superstar, his scoring is what’s needed most to give Joel Embiid the necessary support to defeat the Celtics.
“I’m gonna go watch it,” Sixers coach Doc Rivers said of Harden. “I just didn’t think we had any pace. We had stretches in the game where I thought we went downhill with speed and force, we made plays, and then we had stretches were we just didn’t. I’d rather watch the game first and then answer that question.”
NBA NEWS & PLAYOFFS: James Harden, Philadelphia 76ers & Boston Celtics Updates
Embiid, who finished with 30 points and 13 rebounds in Game 3, wants Harden to stay aggressive to score against the Celtics’ defense. The 2023 NBA MVP doesn’t want his co-star to get too high or too low based on any individual performance.
“I mean, you just talk to him and you just keep telling him to keep shooting, be aggressive,” Embiid said. “That’s why you can’t get too high. You can’t get too low. Some nights, you’re gonna make a lot a lot of shots, a lot of tough ones, and some nights, you’re not gonna make them. So it’s about finding all the ways to impact the game.
“For example, for myself, if I’m not making shots, I know that I got to take another step defensively,” Embiid explained. “I got to become Bill Russell, defensively, to kinda have a bigger impact. In those situations, that’s the way I see it. I gotta get my teammates more involved and that’s for me.
“As for him, obviously, it’s up to him to figure it out how to best help us, but I think like I said, it’s fine,” Embiid finished. “Sometimes you make them. Sometimes you miss them. We made a lot of shots in Game 1. The last few games, it hasn’t been going in. I have the trust in him to just turn him to keep being aggressive and keep shooting.”
NBA NEWS & PLAYOFFS: James Harden, Philadelphia 76ers & Boston Celtics Updates
How Harden responds in Game 4 could be an influential factor in his future, not only with the Sixers but in the NBA. The impending free agent must avoid a third consecutive poor performance on the big stage to keep his value.
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