PHILADELPHIA–If the Philadelphia 76ers are going to go anywhere in the 2022-23 season, they will need James Harden and Joel Embiid to be on the same page in order to truly move forward and lead the team to the title they so desperately crave.
The Sixers have won four games in a row following a 118-106 win over the Golden State Warriors on Friday and they had the stars in sync all night. Harden had 27 points and nine assists while Embiid had 34 points and 13 rebounds. The pick-and-roll game was working to perfection and they took care of business against a depleted Warriors team.
“I don’t know the amount of games we’ve played together, but it’s not a lot,” said Harden afterward. “That’s just every single game where we figure each other out. Me getting it going or him getting it going, our pick-and-roll, how teams are guarding us so it’s like a game-by-game scenario.”
At this point of the season, it’s only December. Philadelphia is still trying to get everybody on the same page and work through some injuries as well as some new faces in the lineup in order to have success.
When they do reach that point, Harden and Embiid should be able to throw the Sixers on their collective back and lead the way when the time calls for it.
“We just keep building on it,” Harden continued. “I mean, this is actually fun. Going game by game like tonight (Friday), they did a little bit more switching, which we haven’t seen. Teams that coming up are gonna switch a little bit more so just a game-by-game scenario. So at the end of the season, we got a package of things that we’ve seen, and this is how we attack different defenses.”
Harden, Embiid, and the Sixers will face a familiar foe in the Toronto Raptors on Monday.
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