Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images
James Harden can still be the Sixers’ leading man when he needs to be.
The Philadelphia 76ers pulled out a thrilling 116-115 victory over the Boston Celtics on Sunday afternoon. The win tied the second round series at 2-2 heading into Game 5. The 76ers are not down 1-3 mainly because of James Harden, who had one of the best games of his playoff career, finishing with 42 points and the game-winning three-pointer with under 20 seconds left in overtime.
It was Harden’s second 40+ point game of the series after only having one such game the two previous times his team was in the playoffs. The decline in scoring during the playoffs in the last couple of seasons can be attributed to a few things.
Age catches up to everyone, not just NBA players, and it has started to catch up to Harden in the last couple of years. Injuries have also played a role. For basically his entire Houston Rocket career, Harden was one of the most durable players in the league. From his first season in 2012-13 to his final full season with the Rockets in 2019-20, Harden played less than 70 games in a season once, and that was the shortened 2019-20 season.
Harden rarely missed games up until that point, but in the last two seasons, he has played 65 games and 58 games for the 76ers. The main reason that Harden’s scoring has dropped is that he has taken a back seat for the first time in his career to Joel Embiid, who was recently named Most Valuable Player for the first time.
This isn’t the first time Harden has been a team’s second or third-best player. When Harden started his career in the NBA with the Oklahoma City Thunder, he was the sixth man for his entire time with the Thunder. Harden excelled in that role, so much so that he won the Sixth Man of the Year.
After contract negotiation fell apart, Harden was traded to the Rockets, where he was elevated from his Robin role with the Thunder to a Batman role with the Rockets. A role he held his entire Rockets career. Harden started his career with the Rockets as the only star-level player on the team until the Rockets sign Dwight Howard in the summer of 2015. After that partnership ultimately failed, they tried to pair Harden with another superstar Chris Paul.
As we all know, the Rockets had their most success in two decades, with the Harden and Paul pairing winning 65 games and coming within one game of making it to the Finals. Even with Howard and Paul being on the team at different points with Harden, it didn’t change the dynamic of who team it was. Harden was the Batman in both situations, regardless of how well either star players during their tenure with the Rockets.
Just like Howard’s on-court play, Paul would decline their last season with the Rockets, which led to Harden having to take on even more responsibility. After the Rockets traded away Paul for Russell Westbrook and the team flamed out in the second round vs. the eventual champions, the Los Angles Lakers, we started to hear rumblings about Harden wanting out to pursue a ring in a better situation.
Eventually, the toll of carrying an entire franchise on his shoulder was too much for Harden. After yet another loss to the Lakers, this time during the regular season, the writing was on the wall. Harden wanted to let everyone know during his now famous (or infamous) post-game press conference.
Rockets shipped Harden to the Brooklyn Nets the next day to join Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.
At this point, you may think that Harden would immediately go back to more of a secondary role similar to his Thunder days, but that didn’t happen. A combination of injuries and Irving missing time due to not wanting to follow the state of New York Covid rules led to Harden again having to take on a full load of being the number one option on a team. That is the exact reason he wanted out of Houston in the first place.
This time, Harden was again traded to the 76ers, which leads us to where we are now. Harden has teamed up with Embiid for the last season and a half, which means he is not the best player on the team. Embiid lead the league in scoring last season and, as we mentioned earlier, finally won his first MVP.
In the last two seasons, Harden has averaged 21 points a game, which is his lowest mark since his last season with the Thunder. That doesn’t mean Harden has not excelled in other areas. The last two seasons, Harden has averaged over 10.5 assists per game in the last two seasons and led the league in assists this season.
Going into the playoffs, most people assumed Embiid would be the number one option, and Harden would be his main support as the second option. That played out for the first round vs. the Nets, as Harden did not score more than 23 points in any of the four games vs. the Nets. He actually had an 8-point game in a 76ers win. The 76ers were able to complete the sweep without Embiid, who missed game four with a knee injury.
That injury also kept him out of the opening game vs. the Celtics, and that is when Harden switched from Robin back to Batman. Harden put up a career-high 45 points and the game-winner as the 76ers took a 1-0 series lead.
Embiid would return for game two, but it was obvious he was not 100 percent, and the Celtics took game two and game three as Harden struggled in both losses.
With the 76ers on the verge of going down 1-3, Harden scored 42 points and again had the game-winner to help tie the series at 2-2.
It has been a delicate balancing act for Harden as he has had to switch from leading man to co-star multiple times throughout his time with the 76ers. With Embiid obviously still hampered by the knee injury, Harden may not be putting away that Batman cape anytime soon.
