“James Harden is going back to his Brooklyn Nets days”: Should Joel Embiid and co be worried about the Sixers guard’s decline
James Harden is on a decline again, the Sixers guard is putting up similar numbers to his Brooklyn Nets days.
The Philadelphia 76ers looked like a certain winner of the two teams when they got James Harden in return for Ben Simmons in the mid-season trade in February.
Although they also had to give up a reliant option from the 3-point line in Seth Curry, a massive presence in the paint in Andre Drummond, and a few future first-round picks, the deal still seemed worth it.
Well, at least for the first few games when Harden was going berserk and was averaging over 24 points, 12.4 dishes, 7.6 boards, and a +16 plus-minus. Those were his first 5-games with his new team, and they won all of those games with considerable margins.
But that didn’t hold for long. The Beard cannot maintain the form he was in search of for a long time before he came to Philly and finally found it.
James Harden is again going back to Brooklyn Nets days
Before Friday night’s overwhelming victory against the Clippers, out of the last 7 games of Harden-Embiid led Sixers, the former MVP’s average dropped to 21 points, 8.7 assists and 6.5 rebounds, and a plus-minus of ‘+4’.
Sixers lost 3 of those 7 games and all of which had an obvious pattern – all were against teams with a winning record. Credits to Legion Hoops that showed us how Harden is again becoming what he had when he played for Brooklyn.
After a hot start, James Harden has cooled off for the Sixers.
Philly Brooklyn
22.5 PPG 22.5 PPG
10.2 APG 10.2 APG
7.0 RPG 8.0 RPG pic.twitter.com/6yxcuiYymP— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) March 25, 2022
Maybe he was underperforming because of the early season injury in Brooklyn or due to the presence of Kevin Durant and later Kyrie Irving. But after coming to Philly, as well he’s playing alongside a probable MVP and Tyrese Maxey who has shown the consistency of the highest level since James’ arrival.
We all know what Embiid has done but in the 14 games since Harden’s debut in late February, Maxey is up to 19.6 points, 3.4 assists, 2.9 rebounds, and 2.5 three-pointers while shooting 55.2 percent overall and 48.6 percent from deep.
Maybe it’s a good thing for Philly, but we have already seen Harden become unstable when there’s a lack of dependency and spotlight on him.
Let’s hope it all pans out well for the Sixers like last night, where Harden put up a 29-15-7 performance in a 122-97 victory over the Clippers.
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