The Brooklyn Nets defeated the Philadelphia 76ers in one of the most entertaining games in recent memory. The two sides played in a highly anticipated game, considering the circumstances of the recent trade that sent James Harden and Ben Simmons the other way. And on the night, James Harden had a very poor performance.
James Harden scored just 11 points, on 3-17 shooting. In fact, Harden only made 3 three-pointers and didn’t make any other shots. Harden’s poor performance was a big reason why the 76ers lost in the fashion that they did. And after the game, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal criticized Harden for his poor shooting night.
On Inside The NBA on TNT, Shaquille O’Neal noted that a player of Harden’s caliber and earning the kind of salary that he is can’t have an off night. Charles Barkley doubled down on that, noting that James Harden ‘stunk up the joint’ and that the 76ers need to win a championship in the next two seasons (4:47 onwards).
Shaq: “As a superstar you gotta step up. As the great Charles Barkley said, this is what we pay you for. $40 million. Everybody has been waiting for this game. This game has playoff implications. You’re going to have to beat them to win the championship. You wanted to be away from them you wanted to be traded somewhere where you have the chance to win a championship. You have to show Philly, show your team you’re ready. Im going to be trying to play my a** off during the big games. This is a big game. KD knows this is a big game because they won… If Philly want to go to that next step, James is going to have to step up. Can’t have games off.”
Barkley: “James Harden, when you get that reputation. It’s gonna be the same way about Ben Simmons. He has got a reputation, he won’t shoot the ball, he can’t make free throws. Until he does, he’s going to have that reputation. James has got a reputation. He has struggled in all big games. If you go back and look, even in Houston, when they should have beaten the Golden State Warriors, they were up until Chris Paul got hurt. And Chris was the leader of that team. But James is developing a reputation, and it’s fair, James is a terrific player. But when lights are the brightest, he has played awful. The thing about being a great player, you don’t have to play great. You just can’t stink up the joint. And he stunk up the joint. The 76ers have to win a championship in the next two years or that’s going to go down as one of the worst trades ever because the reason I wasn’t crazy about the trade – The Nets are going to have KD, Kyrie, and Ben Simmons, probably for the next 10 years. I think the 76ers have to win this year or next year.”
Both legends made some excellent points. For Chuck, this was not the only point in the night where he criticized James Harden. He had also slammed Harden for the way he had played at halftime, noting that he has a reputation for coming up small in big-game situations.
Kevin Durant spoke after the game, where he took a shot at the 76ers, saying they weren’t a good transition team. Durant and the Nets will feel confident after this win, especially if they were to face them in a playoff series.
