On the night that Philadelphia 76ers great Joel Embiid received his first NBA MVP award, teammate James Harden again showed that he is not the star they need to help them win their first title since 1983.
The Philadelphia 76ers entered their Game 3 clash with the Boston Celtics on Friday night with their series tied at 1-1 and interesting narratives building. The 76ers stunned the second-seed Celtics in Game 1 with an impressive win despite Embiid being on the benching still recovering from a sprained knee.
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However, in Game 2, Boston roared back with a historic whipping where they dropped 20 three-pointers on a Philadelphia team that had their superstar back in the lineup. Fans and NBA experts wondered how the 76ers could fall so definitively with their full complement of talent yet win with their best player out. Yet in Game 3 a common storyline reared its head again.
On Friday night, the Boston Celtics reclaimed home-court advantage with an easy 114-102 win on the road. Joel Embiid was MVP-like in tallying 30 points and 13 rebounds, but he received little help on the night and the biggest offender was again fellow superstar James Harden.
James Harden stats (playoffs): 22.8 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 6.2 APG, 34% 3PT
Despite a first-ballot Hall-of-Fame career that includes an MVP award of his own, James Harden has developed a reputation that many other great players have had for being superstars in the regular season and bystanders in the playoffs. He added a new chapter to that sad legacy in Game 3 versus the Celtics.
Inside the Wells Fargo Center tonight, Harden played like a decent rotation talent instead of a man with 10 trips to the All-Star game on his resume, including in 2023. From the jump, Harden seemed off as he missed all five of his shots in the paint during the first half and offered little during his 41 minutes of play — which were his most in this postseason.
While he hit a couple of key shots in the fourth quarter to try and keep the 76ers in the game, James Harden finished Game 3 shooting 3-14 from the field and 2-7 from three — one of those threes came in the final minutes of the game.
While he tallied 16 points and 11 assists, he was also -12 on the night. The performance is all the more frustrating since he was just a few days removed from a career-best 45-point showing while leading Philadelphia to a shocking Game 1 victory. But his last two games have made 76ers fans forget that as James Harden adds to his history of playoff futility in general, and with Philly.
Harden came to the team midway through last season and again had a weak showing in the postseason as he averaged less than 20 per in the team’s two rounds-and-out stints in the 2022 playoffs. In the first round, he again managed to post just over 17 points against the Nets, however, it didn’t matter because things came easy for the 76ers in that four-game sweep.
But now they are in the part of the postseason where it takes elite performances to beat elite teams like the defending Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics. Yet, when it comes time to take his game to new levels, James Harden continues to show he is the same player in the NBA playoffs no matter what jersey he is wearing.
The way things are going, Philadelphia 76ers fans should not feel confident about their team’s chances heading into Game 4 on Sunday night.