The Sixers became a better team without James Harden. And they did it together.

Meanwhile, James Harden’s legacy is on the line in Los Angeles. And if he isn’t careful, the Clippers could be another stain on his career.

by Keith Pompey

Published Nov. 18, 2023, 5:00 a.m. ET

The 76ers are a better team without James Harden. The key word being team.

At the same time, the Los Angeles Clippers, who had been rolling, have gotten worse after the addition of the 10-time All-Star.

Add the fact that the future Hall of Famer has forced his way out of Houston, Brooklyn, and now Philadelphia, and his legacy has definitely been tarnished.

Nor does the fact that the Sixers are a more dangerous team without him.

They defeated the Atlanta Hawks, 126-116, in Friday’s NBA In-Season Tournament East Group A game at State Farm Arena to improve to 9-3 overall and 2-1 in the IST.

It also doesn’t help Harden’s legacy that he never won with the teams he forced trades to. It can be argued that his presence has made the Clippers a more inferior team. But, in fairness, there’s still time for things to get better for Harden and Los Angeles. Friday’s late game against the Rockets marked just his sixth game in a Clippers uniform since the blockbuster Nov. 1 trade, and they lost the first five.

At the same time, the Sixers are now recognized as a cohesive team. No more standing around and watching the Harden and Joel Embiid two-man game. They’re getting contributions from everyone. And that has enabled the Sixers to get off to such a solid start.

The Sixers were without Nicolas Batum (personal reasons) and Kelly Oubre Jr. (fractured rib) for the third and fourth consecutive games, respectively, on Friday night. But they still handled the Hawks thanks to balanced scoring.

Embiid finished with 32 points, seven rebounds, eight assists, and two steals. Tobias Harris went for a season-high 29 points and added 10 rebounds. Tyrese Maxey (19 points, eight assists), De’Anthony Melton (14 points), and reserve Danuel House Jr. (14) were the other double-figure scorers.

But when fully healthy, the Sixers are tough to beat. Meanwhile, the Clippers (4-7) won their first game of Harden era, defeating the Rockets, 106-100, Friday night at Crypto.com Arena.

Harden was the hero, scoring a four-point play to give L.A. a 104-100 lead with six seconds left. He finished with 24 points on 8-for-11 shooting along with a game-high nine rebounds and seven assists. This was his sixth game as a Clipper.

Los Angeles can only hope that this something they can build on. That’s because his first five games were a struggle.

Harden averaged 15.0 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists in his first five games. Though it was a small sample size, his 47.1% shooting was better than what he shot (43.1%) in 79 games as a Sixer. But more important than losing their first five games with Harden, the Clippers’ point differential with and without Harden spoke volumes.

Through five games, Los Angeles was outscored by 70 points during Harden’s minutes. However, the Clippers had outscored their opponents by 85 points in all of this season’s other minutes.

It’s going to take Harden a while to get acclimated.

“I keep reiterating that I didn’t have a training camp or preseason,” Harden told reporters following Tuesday’s 111-108 loss to the Denver Nuggets. “So I’m learning on the fly for a new team. Also getting myself into James Harden shape and game shape. Tonight was a step in the right direction.”

Those words came after one of Harden’s better performances with the Clippers. He had 21 points and four assists.

But while the numbers are respectable, the true work for Harden is getting acclimated to playing with three other high-level players in Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Russell Westbrook. It’s not like Harden was traded to a team where he was the best player. Under those circumstances, he might have settled in quicker. With the Clippers, he has to try balance his relationship with three stars — Westbrook most of all.

Los Angeles received good news Friday morning when Westbrook volunteered to come off the bench for Friday night’s game against the Rockets.

Before that, all four players were together in a starting lineup that didn’t work. Harden, Leonard, George, and Westbrook all need the ball. And they all want to shoot it.

In hindsight, one has to wonder how long it will before the Clippers regret trading Batum and Covington — two players they need — to acquire a point guard who doesn’t fit alongside their other stars.

Without Covington and Batum, the Clippers have a smaller lineup. The 6-foot-8 Batum and 6-7 Covington gave them length on the wings. Los Angeles’ decision to jettison solid role players in favor of a star hasn’t worked out so far.

But for the Sixers, it was addition by subtraction.

The drama that Harden’s presence created is over. In addition to Batum and Covington, the Sixers also acquired fellow role players Marcus Morris and KJ Martin from the Clippers, a group of players who fit in better than Harden did.

The Sixers are now a deeper team.

“Addition by subtraction” suggests Harden is no longer a good player, but it was his style of play that wasn’t good for the Sixers.

Harden thrives as a ball-dominant guard. He’s also an inferior defender. Under new coach Nick Nurse, the Sixers have a more free-flowing offense. They also get after it on defense.

The Sixers were ranked fourth in scoring at 119.9 points per game heading into Friday’s game. They were also fifth in blocks at 6.1. They remained in second place in the Eastern Conference, one game behind the first-place Celtics (10-2) after Friday’s victory. The Sixers are also tied with Western Conference powers Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks with the NBA’s second-best record.

Meanwhile, the Clippers are one of the league’s worst teams.

Harden will be recognized as a great NBA player. He won the 2018 MVP and three scoring titles and was twice the assist leader.

But there is still a contingent that will ask whether the Sixers can compete in a big game. They swear the Sixers are going to miss Harden’s presence in those marquee matchups.

But wasn’t Game 7 of last season’s second-round series against the Celtics a big game? Didn’t the Sixers need his presence then?

Harden had nine points, seven assists, and six rebounds, and made just 3 of 11 shots, including just 1 of 5 three-pointers in the 112-88 loss at TD Garden. In the biggest game of the season, Harden looked like the game had passed him by.

Harden had more air balls (three) than made baskets (two) in the first half. He also had no lift on his jumpers and looked a step too slow. He ended up with six points on 2-for-8 shooting along with six assists and five rebounds in the first half.

However, his Flagrant 1 foul in the first half was a momentum killer. The foul sparked an 8-0 run that enabled the Celtics to knot the score at 35.

But this is nothing new for Harden, who has a history of poor Game 7 performances.

Right now, Harden is known as a terrific offensive player who never won a big game. And if the Clippers don’t win, he’ll be blamed. The Clippers were 3-1 and playing at a high level before the trade. They had lost six straight heading into Friday.

But the Sixers are a better team without Harden.