The Philadelphia 76ers suffered a painful loss against the Brooklyn Nets last week, coming back to earth after an exciting start of the James Harden-Joel Embiid duo. The big man and the guard couldn’t do anything against the Nets, who went to the Wells Fargo Center with Ben Simmons and completely dominated the home team.
After that defeat, the hype around Harden and Embiid decreased a little bit, and now things are going a little worse for the Sixers, who also lost a big game against Nikola Jokic and his Denver Nuggets although they held a 19-point lead at some moment.
This loss raised some eyebrows around the league and some people think that humbling defeat against the Nets messed up the Sixers. Chris Broussard of Fox Sports thinks that being dismantled by Kyrie Irving has affected James Harden and the rest of the team.
Cause for concern for 76ers after losing 2 of last 3?
"I'm looking at James Harden. Kyrie came in there last week & took his heart. I'm not saying for forever. He hasn't been the same since. It's going to come down to what does he do when the moment gets big." — @Chris_Broussard pic.twitter.com/7Z6j4VRdys
— First Things First (@FTFonFS1) March 15, 2022
“I’m looking at James Harden. Kyrie came in there last week & took his heart. I’m not saying for forever. He hasn’t been the same since. It’s going to come down to what does he do when the moment gets big,” Broussard said, as transcribed by SportsKeeda.
“My concern about this team, and I said it, you know, initially when the trade was made – why I didn’t think they’d win a championship with Harden – is I wanna see him handle adversity and pressure come playoff time.
“I don’t care if James Harden averages 30 points and 10 assists and leads Philadelphia to an undefeated record the rest of the regular season. It is going to come down to what does he do when the moment gets big?”
Things started really well for Sixers, who dominated their rivals during the first five games of Harden and Embiid as a duo. Now, the situation is different and they need to level up in the final part of the season or the playoffs will be hard. We already saw what these two can do. If they can be that dangerous one-two tandem of the first games, the East will be put on notice again.
The Nets are looking like a serious candidate, with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving going off on rivals. We could see this duel in the postseason and if Doc Rivers doesn’t find the solution, we could see the Nets taking out the Sixers from the postseason.
