There were a lot of interesting storylines heading into opening night and one of them was which version of James Harden was going to show up. Harden was a shell of himself last season as the Sixers came up short once again in the postseason but there were hopes that things would be different this time around.
While Philly ended up losing 126-117 to the Celtics, there were some reasons to be optimistic, with Harden being the biggest one. He finished with a game-high 35 points to go with 8 rebounds, and 7 assists, to look a lot like the James Harden of the past.
James Harden Completely Lost Marcus Smart With A Simple Stepback Move
Harden, whom Tobias Harris called the leader of the Sixers, especially had it going in the first half as he took it to the Celtics by scoring 22 points while the rest of his team struggled to get going. He also had a sequence against reigning Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, where Smart went flying after Harden did his trademark stepback.
The Harden Shimmy 😂🔥#Shaqtin pic.twitter.com/kO2RB4k9Aq
— Shaqtin' a Fool (@shaqtin) October 19, 2022
Smart definitely flopped a bit there but it was still an impressive move by Harden. He then shimmied before taking the shot, but, unfortunately, ended up air balling it, in what was a letdown. It would have been amazing if he did sink it, as it would have been one of the biggest highlights of the season. Another angle from TNT gave an even better look at the sequence.
https://twitter.com/StephNoh/status/1582535572542758913
The end of this play aside, the Sixers and their fans would have been thrilled by Harden’s performance. He spent the offseason working hard on his conditioning to get back to his best and if he plays like this for the whole season, then the Sixers are going to be in the mix for the championship. They’ll be hoping for a better display from Joel Embiid though, as he didn’t have a great game even if his numbers looked good.
As for the Celtics, they looked just fine despite all the drama over the last month or so, as Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum both dropped 35 points. They were even without defensive anchor Robert Williams III, who recently underwent a PRP procedure. Williams played through a knee injury in the playoffs last year and he is, unfortunately, feeling the effects of it now. There is hope he returns at some point in the second half of the season, as the Celtics look to make it back to the NBA Finals.
