After about a month of inactivity, Philadelphia 76ers star James Harden finally made his return to the court this week, pouring in 21 points, 7 assists, and 4 rebounds in 38 minutes of action.
The only problem was, Harden found it hard to get it going in what he called a ‘weird’ minutes restriction. Here’s what he said after the game, showing some frustration over how his return (a 9-point loss to the Rockets) panned out.
“The whole minute restriction thing was kinda weird to me,” James Harden said. “Play the first five minutes, then I come out. Then, the second quarter was kind of the same thing. Then the third quarter I come out [after] the first five minutes and don’t come back in the whole third quarter, and then I played the whole fourth quarter. I just didn’t know. I was all over the place. I’m not used to it. Not making any excuses. I gotta be better.”
Harden shot 21% in the loss and was clearly off his game all night long. It’s still far too early for fans to panic, but this latest game does raise some big questions about the potential of this Sixers duo.
Can Joel Embiid And James Harden Win A Championship Together?
At 12-12 on the season, the 76ers have been mediocre for most of this campaign and James Harden hasn’t done too much to change that so far. The hope is that, with more time, he and Embiid can find a rhythm and get Philadelphia to the Finals.
More and more, however, fans and experts doubt that the team can make this work.
The 76ers will not even advance to the NBA Finals if Harden and Embiid are not on the same page. So far this season, whenever the duo has played together, both players look out of sync. 76ers insider Keith Pompey recently pointed out the same thing.
“He’s mostly been out of sync and had poor body language while playing alongside Harden this season,” said Pompey.
With Ben Simmons gone, and much of their picks sacrificed in the Harden trade, the 76ers really have no choice but to stick with this group and try their best to make it work.
As two of the best scorers in the game, it shouldn’t be too hard for Embiid and Harden to find some common ground, but they have still struggled to be the team everyone imagined they could be when they first linked up years ago.
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