Years will move and emotions will calcify, and after some time there’s an excellent chance that the one factor we’ll bear in mind about James Harden is that this: he didn’t wish to be right here. Or, extra exactly, he stopped eager to be right here.
And what will probably be misplaced in that translation is a disgrace.
As a result of when Harden was in Brooklyn, and when he was each absolutely engaged and absolutely wholesome, we noticed loads of what we noticed Sunday, when he collected a triple-double in a 125-109 76ers win over the Knicks that he made look as straightforward as sipping a cup of Gatorade.
“He’s a tremendous ballplayer,” Sixers coach Doc Rivers mentioned. “Interval.”
He's, in fact, and he was for the Nets. It was Harden who at all times appeared like he bought the most important kick out of being paired with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, Harden who acted like a child in a sweet retailer when he had his two wingmen with him. It simply didn’t occur all that usually. The one time it did this season, in a 138-112 obliteration of the Bulls in Chicago in January, Harden sounded downright smitten afterward.
“We’re that good,” Harden mentioned that night time. “We now have an opportunity to be that good. We simply haven’t had sufficient of it.”
On Sunday, along with his new crew, a brand new set of toys, Harden appeared equally giddy. He’d simply scored 29 factors (on solely 14 pictures), added 16 assists and 10 rebounds, and spent the higher a part of a blissful afternoon feeding the ball to Joel Embiid, who scored 37.
“I used to be on the market winging it,” mentioned Harden, who’s solely bought two or three performs underneath his belt and spent the remainder of the day making it up as he went alongside, an improv artist on the prime of his recreation. “However I really feel very comfy.”
We nonetheless haven’t seen the total extent of this commerce, gained’t till Ben Simmons takes the ground for the Nets and is ready to combine himself with Durant and Irving. So all we see is the Sixers’ half. However to date it’s onerous to not like what they appear to be. Embiid is the seemingly MVP and now he has a totally engaged wingman.
And Harden appears extra engaged than he has since final yr, when the wheels began spinning off in Brooklyn.
“He’s such a fantastic passer, another person who can draw lot of consideration,” Embiid mentioned. “Groups need to resolve whether or not they wish to keep on me or keep on him and in the event that they determined to stick with each of us it opens it up for everybody else, too.”
The Knicks today, as on most days these days, had been mere foils for the Sixers as they formally retreated a little bit deeper into their sinkhole. In reality, the 76ers appeared truly considerably appreciative of the hassle the Knicks gave, and the truth that they really led 98-95 with underneath 10 minutes to go.
“They made us actually assume and determine issues out on the fly,” Rivers mentioned. “James did an excellent job orchestrating the place we would have liked to be.”
Harden hit a 28-foot 3 to tie the sport at 98 and two free throws to place the Sixers up 100-98, and so they by no means trailed once more. From there he simply stored discovering Embiid, who simply stored sporting out each large man the Knicks threw at him, fouling out each Mitch Robinson and Jericho Sims, hitting 24 out of 27 from the foul line, essentially the most free-throw makes an attempt by anybody in three years.
“We now have an extended technique to go,” Harden mentioned. “That is recreation two for me however I just like the path we’re heading in.”
Stated Embiid: “I didn’t even assume I performed all that nicely. I can’t imagine what’s going to occur after we put all of it collectively.”
We are able to imagine it. We noticed it. It got here in spurts and spasms, however when Harden was at his finest in Brooklyn, flanked by his fellow stars, it was one thing to behold. The reminiscence of that can regress because the years move, and will probably be changed by the reminiscence of the way it went south, and the way he got here to depart. However no person ever mentioned it wasn’t enjoyable whereas it lasted.
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