Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images
The stars are always coming up short in Philadelphia.
The Philadelphia 76ers are going to be haunted by their Game 7 loss to the Boston Celtics in the second round of the 2023 NBA Playoffs for a long, long time. The Sixers opened the game strong on the road against Boston, but choked away the lead in the second and third quarters for a humiliating 112-88 defeat at the hands of the Celtics to end their season.
The Sixers’ two superstars let them down in the biggest game of the year. MVP winner Joel Embiid finished with just 15 points on 5-of-18 shooting, while James Harden shot 3-for-11 for nine points and seven assists in the loss. Harden has a long history of struggling during the playoffs, and unfortunately even two monster performances in this series won’t be enough to shake that reputation.
Harden scored 45 points on 30 field goal attempts and hit an epic game-winner to give the Sixers the win in Game 1 while Embiid was out with injury. He came through again in Game 4 with 42 points on 23 field goal attempts. The rest of the series for Harden was pretty brutal. He averaged only 13.4 points in the other five games vs. the Celtics on 25.3 percent shooting from the field.
After his incredibly clutch Game 4 performance, Harden simply couldn’t get it done in high leverage situations the rest of the series. This stat is unbelievable: he did not score in the fourth quarter in 32 total minutes across Game 5, Game 6, and Game 7.
76ers fans are used to seeing their stars come up short when it matters most in the playoffs. Before it was Harden putting up goose eggs in the fourth quarter of critical second round playoff games, it was Ben Simmons.
Simmons has never been the same since he came up short in Philadelphia’s 2021 playoff series vs. the Atlanta Hawks. He famously bypassed a wide open dunk in crunch-time of Game 7, and then was more or less thrown under the bus by Embiid and head coach Doc Rivers. Simmons was eventually traded in a blockbuster package for Harden, but he’s never come close to regaining his All-Star form.
Philly fans still haven’t forgiven Simmons, not when he didn’t even attempt a shot in the fourth quarter of the last four games of the series vs. Atlanta.
Harden and Simmons were traded for each other, and now they both somehow have 3+ games of zero points in the fourth quarter of a second round series. Unreal.
The Sixers haven’t been to the conference finals since Allen Iverson led them to the NBA Finals in 2001. Philly had two chances to get it done with a 3-2 series lead, but their stars blew it. It’s a familiar story.
