PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Charlotte Hornets at home on Sunday, 131-113, behind another dominant performance from Joel Embiid. The big fella had 53 points on 20-for-32 shooting, and he destroyed almost every defender the Hornets threw at him.
However, James Harden had a big game as well. Harden had 19 points, 16 assists and nine rebounds while in complete control of the game. The Beard offered a combination of scoring, distributing and rebounding and looked like his usual self.
“James, I thought, was unbelievable,” said coach Doc Rivers. “He was the point guard, the facilitator and the scorer all at the same time. That’s exactly what we’re talking about and that was phenomenal.”
Harden has had to make plenty of adjustments during his time in Philadelphia, but the biggest is still trying to find that balance. He has to get Embiid the ball to while taking care of shooters De’Anthony Melton, Tobias Harris and others.
“Just possession by possession,” said Harden. “I see Joel had it going so it’s only right to get big fella the ball. De’Anthony hit a couple shots and then I tried to finding him. He actually bust the lead open where he had a couple of 3s in a row. So just trying to find a mixture of scoring.”
When the Sixers are playing as they did on Sunday, they are going to be one tough bunch to beat. Philadelphia leans a lot on Harden to be that facilitator as well as a scorer out on the floor. When he eventually gets the consistency down, the Sixers will move up the standings.
“When Joel has it going and then when our shooters and our other guys need opportunities because if everybody’s on a high, playing well, and making shots then it’s gonna be very, very difficult to beat us,” said The Beard. “Then it gives us that confidence and energy to go down on the defensive and get stops so tonight (Sunday) was a great example of that.”
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