I was wrong: These Sixers miss James Harden, especially now with Joel Embiid sidelined

In mid-November, after the 76ers won nine of their first 12 games, I was all in.

“The 76ers are a better team without James Harden,” I wrote.

Today, as the Sixers look somewhat lost without Joel Embiid, I’m watching the meltdowns, and choking on my words.

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These Sixers most assuredly are not better without Harden.

The team absolutely misses his presence more than it may ever admit it — especially considering how things ended. The 2018 MVP and three-time NBA scoring champion forced his way out of Philadelphia after stating in August he would never again play for Daryl Morey, the team’s president of basketball operations.

The Sixers traded Harden, P.J. Tucker, and Filip Petrušev to the Clippers on Nov. 1. Harden will face his former team for the first time at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

After a rough start, he has been the catalyst for the Clippers having the Western Conference’s fourth-best record (44-25) and being a championship contender.

Meanwhile, the Sixers’ championship hopes were squashed shortly after Embiid tore the meniscus in his left knee on Jan. 30 against the Golden State Warriors. The next game, Tyrese Maxey scored a career-high 51 points to lead them to a 127-124 road victory over the Utah Jazz.

But since then, the Sixers (38-32) have lost 15 of 23 games to drop to eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings with 12 games remaining.

Overall, the Sixers are 12-24 without Embiid this season. However, they were 11-5 without him last season. And Harden was the reason the Sixers were successful last season without Embiid.

The 10-time All-Star averaged 20.6 points, 9.4 assists, and 6.7 rebounds in the regular-season games he played without Embiid. The Sixers looked for him to take over games when Embiid was sidelined. And he delivered.

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His most memorable performance came with Embiid sidelined with an LCL sprain in his right knee in Game 1 of the 2023 second-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics.

Harden finished with a game-high 45 points, made 17 of 30 shots, and tied a season-high with seven three-pointers in the 119-115 victory. He had 15 points in the fourth quarter, including the go-ahead basket with 8.4 seconds left.

This season, Harden is averaging 17.3 points along with a league fifth-best 8.5 assists with the Clippers. He’s shooting a career-best 40.3% on three-pointers.

But the Clippers looked like a team in disarray when he first arrived in Los Angeles. The star-studded squad, which had started the season 2-2, lost his first five games. Things began to change for the better in the next game, as the Clippers defeated the Rockets, 106-100, on Nov. 17.

Harden was the hero, scoring a four-point play to give the Clippers 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.

Harden had averaged 15.0 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 4.2 assists in the five losses. But the Clippers’ point differential with and without Harden spoke volumes.

Through those five games, Los Angeles was outscored by 70 points during Harden’s minutes.

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“I keep reiterating that I didn’t have a training camp or preseason,” Harden told reporters Nov. 14, following the Clippers’ 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.”

And he was right.

Back then, the Sixers were being recognized as a more cohesive team without Harden. There was no more standing around and watching the Harden and Embiid two-man game. The Sixers were getting contributions from everyone. And that enabled them to get off to such a solid start.

Harden thrived as a ball-dominant guard. He’s also an inferior defender.

Under new coach Nick Nurse, the Sixers had a more free-flowing offense, until they realized the Embiid-Maxey two-man game was tough to stop. They also got after it on defense.

Harden’s style of play wasn’t good for the Sixers, or so was the thought.

Everything changed once Embiid had knee surgery, followed by the Sixers reshaping the roster at the trade deadline. It doesn’t help that the team is also playing without their best perimeter defenders, De’Anthony Melton (spine) and Robert Covington (left knee bone bruise).

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In the midst of all that’s transpired, it’s become apparent that Maxey can’t do it all by himself.

That’s not a knock on the All-Star guard, who’s averaging 25.9 points in the 19 games he has played since Embiid was sidelined. Maxey has scored 30 or more points in eight of those games. And he had 27 points in Friday’s 101-94 loss to the Lakers. He scored the first eight and 11 of the Sixers’ 18 points in the fourth quarter.

It’s become obvious that he needs some help, especially when teams start blitzing him to get the ball out of his hands.

These are the type of moments the Sixers relied heavily on Harden for last season. With Embiid sidelined, the future Hall of Famer’s presence enabled the Sixers to stay afloat.

And they miss that immensely.