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“James Harden with a 22 piece, 15 biscuits and 6 small fries sent Raptors to Cancun with Drake”: Kendrick Perkins can’t get over food and vacation as Philadelphia 76ers move to conference semi-finals

Rishabh Gangwani
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"James Harden with a 22 piece, 15 biscuits and 6 small fries sent Raptors to Cancun with Drake": Kendrick Perkins can't get over food and vacation as Philadelphia 76ers move to conference semi-finals

The Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors went back and forth in a hard-fought series and James Harden finally found his chance to settle it.

Coming into the series against the Raptors, the Sixers were considered heavy favourites. They played that way too, taking a 3-0 series lead and were on the verge of completing a series sweep.

The Raptors wouldn’t go down without a fight and defeated the Sixers in Game 4 to force a Game 5 back in Philadelphia.

The Sixers once again missed a golden opportunity to close the series after the Raptors won Game 5 by a big margin on the road.

With Game 6 back in Toronto, all the momentum was with the Raptors and the Sixers were looking for answers, not just from their best player, but from ‘The Beard’ James Harden.

Also read: “James harden aging in dog years”: Shannon Sharpe blames The Beard for the Sixers’ struggle in winning a game with Joel Embiid’s injury trouble

All eyes were on James Harden who was struggling to make an impact for the Sixers in the series

Harden is a terrific basketball player, there is no doubt about that. He’s a former MVP, scoring champion and an all-star. With that being said, he’s not quite looking like himself lately. His offensive inefficiencies have lead to coach Doc Rivers scratching his head.

While Harden continues to be a great playmaker, putting the ball through the basket has been a mighty struggle. With Joel Embiid playing through a thumb injury, one would have expected Harden to take on the scoring load but that hadn’t been the case heading into Game 6.

He struggled in Games 4 and 5 in which he shot 5-for-17 and just 4-for-11 respectively. In Game 5 specifically, he had more turnovers than made baskets.

ESPN Analyst and former NBA player Kendrick Perkins said that Game 6 was an opportunity for Harden to redeem himself and “come through when it matters the most on the road and help the 76ers win this game”.

Harden was finally able to put some of his demons behind him and had a 22-15-6 game to close out the series against the Raptors.

The Sixers will now face the Miami Heat in round 2, a mouth-watering series that will see James Harden go up against one of the toughest defenders in the league, Jimmy Butler.

For the Sixers to come out victorious in that series, the onus will be on Harden to be a better scorer and if he can do that, the Sixers might just win it all.

Also read: “Y’all really thought James Harden was the problem?!”: Twitter user points out MASSIVE about bias on Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant during earlier months of NBA season

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