At the Sixers, we have every reason to smile right now. Solidly installed on the podium of the Eastern Conference, they currently remain on 7 consecutive victories. And while Joel Embiid remains the spearhead of Philly’s attack, it’s also worth looking at the revival of James Harden.
His final years seemed to begin a relative decline and waning involvement, but the NBA’s most famous beard seems instead to be reinventing himself and adapting to a new role in the city of brotherly love. A brotherly love that he may be living with his pivot, who is currently getting his nerves on all the defenses of the NBA because he will not start the All-Star Game, ask Nikola Jokic what he thinks. James Harden sublimates his teammates, and sublimates himself by doing so. Long considered a selfish cruncher who lacks involvement and whose game contains too much waste, he takes his new role as a second option head on. He who often had to put his underpants over his pants during his years in Houston to finally arrive completely roasted in the Playoffs, or who never managed to find chemistry with his former teammate Kevin Durant and a half Kyrie Irving during off his hook by Brooklyn.
In Philly, he is Joel Embiid’s lieutenant and plays as such. With Averaged 21.4 points, 5.6 rebounds and 11.2 assists per game, he no longer scores as much as before (he also takes less than 15 shots per game), but he has once once more become the best passer in the league, serving his franchise player. He said it himself, this season in Philadelphia is the one where he has the best chance of playing for the title in his entire career, and he gives himself the means to do so every night. Even crazier, this night once morest the Nuggets, he signed his first game since 2021 without the slightest loss of ball. He who loses an average of 3.7 per career game, who has already delivered several seasons with more than 4 average turnovers and even returned more than 5 balls to the opponent during the 2016-2017 and 2018-2019 seasons. Harden and Embiid excel this season by using plenty of pick-and-roll to score, and this weapon, which is nothing revolutionary, perfectly suits this lethal duo in the exercise. The spleen of Brooklyn and the loneliness of Houston now seem far away for a bearded man who seems to flourish in Philly and the whole team is doing better for it. With a JH13 serving the collective and other options like Tyrese Maxey or Tobias Harris, the Sixers are a real scarecrow in the East.
Joel Embiid’s insane season is often rightly talked regarding, but James Harden is also back in great shape and he’ll in all likelihood grind a new star in February. His good individual and collective season makes the Sixers a real contender for the title and he might well get rid of his image as a loser by going to the end.