James Harden cost the Sixers Game 6 and blamed the refs. He faces a do-or-die Game 7.
Thirteen points. Four-for-16 from the field, 0-for-6 from three, five turnovers. Ignored Joel Embiid down the stretch. The Beard has one more chance.
No more mulligans for James Harden. No more on-court absences. No more disappearances down the stretch.
No more excuses.
No more 25% shooting from the field, which was all he managed Thursday night. No more five turnovers, also Thursday’s output. No more Playoff James.
The Sixers had a chance to end the Eastern Conference semifinals in front of a frenetic hometown crowd. They needed 25 points from Harden. They needed 20 shots. They needed 10 free throws.
Harden scored 13 points. He shot 16 times. He missed all six three-pointers. He went to the line five times.
Worse, Harden got NBA MVP Joel Embiid the ball zero times in the last 3 minutes, 56 seconds.
“We stopped moving the ball,” Embiid said, mystified. “I didn’t touch the ball at all.”
Harden’s explanation: “We missed a lot of shots.”
OK.
The Sixers lost, 95-86. They face the Celtics in Game 7 on Sunday in Boston. They had the chance to forego that trip. They led by two with 4 minutes, 29 seconds to play, when Harden missed that sixth three-pointer. They failed. Harden failed. They needed him to be clever and canny and sharp. He was none of those things.
Don’t blame the referees, who, inexcusably, blew a goaltending call on Embiid, but, consistently, refused to bail out Harden in the lane. Right?
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“Tonight was frustrating because … I’m number one in fouls that don’t get called,” he said. He claimed that officials told him at halftime they missed calls. “I’m not going to look at my shooting percentage. I did a lot of good things offensively.”
Sigh.
Don’t blame Tyrese Maxey, who scored 26 points. Don’t blame Tobias Harris, at least not too much. He scored just two points but helped limit Jayson Tatum to a 5-for-21 performance.
Don’t blame coach Doc Rivers, who schemed open shots and whose defense allowed 95 points.
And certainly don’t blame Embiid, who scored 26 points on 9-of-19 shooting; he needed 25 shots. He grabbed 10 rebounds and he hit all eight free throws. He blocked three shots and discouraged a dozen others. The MVP was blameless.
Blame one guy. Blame the 2018 MVP.
Blame James.
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Harden played without the aggression that netted him 45 points in Game 1 and 42 in Game 4. He was, somehow, hesitant and hurried at the same time. He was, too often, indecisive and ineffective. He was Playoff James.
The Beard faces a Game 7 on Sunday in Boston that will determine his future and his fortune. This is his 14th season. If he shows up and the Sixers win, they will commit to him millions of dollars, and he will, at 33, have his NBA future cemented. He might even erase the memory of some of the disappointments in Houston, where, as a perennial MVP candidate through eight winters, Harden proved limp come springtime.
He was limp Thursday, too.
For example: With just over a minute to go, trailing by eight, he won passage into the lane, hesitated, fell, and turned the ball over. The play was typical of his Game 6.
And his Game 2, when he was 2-for-14.
And his Game 3, when he was 3-for-14.
And so many of his last 119 playoff games since he escaped Oklahoma City in 2012 and became Houston’s alpha dog. But he never led the Rockets to the NBA Finals. He morphed into a truer version of a point guard this season, and his scoring orgies in Houston will land him in the Hall of Fame, but he cannot be considered great with so many putrid postseason performances, especially in the biggest games.
Harden shot just nine times in the Game 6 elimination against Miami last year. He went 5-for-17 when the Bucks knocked his Nets out in 2021. He was 2-for-11 in 2017 when the Spurs beat Houston in Game 6 of the Western Conference semis.
Harden is not the only player who has wilted under the hottest lights, but, fairly or not, he is this generation’s goat. The bad kind of goat. The scapegoat.
The Sixers generally talked around the issue.
“I didn’t like how we played overall offensively down the stretch,” Doc Rivers said. “The ball didn’t move. We didn’t have a lot of ball movement tonight.”
Rivers repeatedly said the team lacked “trust.”
Trust comes down to the point guard. Trust comes down to James Harden.