NBA playoff dispatches: Despite win, 76ers have Harden problem

Ric Bucher

FOX Sports NBA Analyst

Yaron Weitzman

FOX Sports NBA Writer

FOX Sports writers are providing takeaways from games throughout the NBA playoffs. Here are their thoughts from the first Sunday of the postseason.

76ers 96, Nets 84: Sixers have a Harden problem

The Sixers beat the Nets on Monday night, 96-84. It wasn’t a pretty win, but it was a convincing one. The Nets are undersized and undermanned, and they know it, too. It’s why they junked up the game by throwing all sorts of traps and double teams at Joel Embiid and pushing the pace whenever they could.

The Nets gave an admirable effort but in the end, the Sixers, after a pair of home games, are exactly where they should be and where we thought they’d be: Up 2-0 and on their way to a second-round matchup with the Boston Celtics.

So all is good in Philly, right? Well, not exactly. Because the Sixers right now have a major problem on their hands: James Harden once again looks like he’s playing in mud.

Harden’s Game 1 numbers were great (23 points, 7-for-13 from deep, 13 assists), but his trademark burst and explosiveness were nowhere to be found. He missed seven of his eight shots in the paint and didn’t attempt a single free-throw.

In Game 2, Harden once again failed to generate anything off of drives, and this time, his jumper failed him. He finished with just eight points and seven assists. He missed 10 of his 13 shots. He turned the ball over five times. Once again, he did not attempt a single free-throw.

All this is eerily reminiscent of Harden’s performance in last year’s playoff run, when he disappeared down the stretch. In the months since, Harden, people close to him, and the people within the Sixers organization have been adamant that Harden’s struggles against the Heat were simply the result of him recovering from a balky hamstring which left him limited — that now he was healthy and that in this year’s playoffs, we’d once again see Harden on the attack.

And for most of the regular season, Harden was fantastic. He led the league in assists and was part of the league’s top pick-and-roll tandem. No, he wasn’t the same player we’d seen run circles around opponents while in Houston. But he was playing at an All-NBA level. And with that version of James Harden, the Sixers had a title chance.

But considering just a few weeks ago Harden told reporters that he had an Achilles problem that “has been bothering me for some months,” it’d be understandable if the Sixers and their fans started growing concerned. Because in about a week, the Sixers will be facing a big, strong, long, rangy and cohesive defense that won’t need to resort to junk schemes. And if Harden isn’t turning the corner or getting downhill or generating easy points, he and the Sixers have no shot.

— Yaron Weitzman

Yaron Weitzman is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. He is the author of “Tanking to the Top: The Philadelphia 76ers and the Most Audacious Process in the History of Professional Sports.” Follow him on Twitter @YaronWeitzman.

Ric Bucher is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. He previously wrote for Bleacher Report, ESPN The Magazine and The Washington Post and has written two books, “Rebound,” on NBA forward Brian Grant’s battle with young onset Parkinson’s, and “Yao: A Life In Two Worlds.” He also has a daily podcast, “On The Ball with Ric Bucher.” Follow him on Twitter @RicBucher.