NEW YORK — The Philadelphia 76ers walked away with a 96-88 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday to finish the sweep and advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals. They did so behind big performances from Tobias Harris and Paul Reed.
They earned the win despite James Harden having a subpar day shooting. He had 17 points, but he shot just 4-for-18 from the floor. However, he also had 11 assists and eight rebounds as the Nets really had a tough time defending him. He was doing a lot of other things on the floor to help the Sixers succeed.
That has been the key for The Beard in the 2022-23 season. He wants to do what is necessary to help the team — not just James Harden — succeed.
“I told myself this year, man I’m gonna be willing to sacrifice,” he said after the win. “Whether it’s the money or my role, just letting everything go and just sacrificing and see what it gives me, you know? I’m not the type of person that’s naive or I’m not the type of person that’s just — I listen and I can go out there and just be for the betterment of the team.”
Harden is no longer the ruthless scorer he was while with the Houston Rockets. He has received a lot of criticism for that, but he isn’t concerned. The Sixers have been winning and that’s all he’s worried about.
“So for the entire year, people expect me to be scoring James Harden,” he continued. “The James Harden that goes out there and gets 40-50 points and you can talk like ‘Oh, he can’t win like that,’ and then it’s like, ‘Well, I’ll go out there and get 20 points and 11 assists’ and it’s like, ‘Well, he’s not the old James Harden anymore’ so it’s always gonna be something to say.”
At this stage, it’s all about winning a championship. Harden has to be in a good position to be sure the Sixers can win a title right now. So far, the sacrifices are working.
“So, I think about my role and what I can control and the impact on this team every single night,” he finished. “Sacrifice is a word that I’m going to continue to use for this year and see what it gets me.”
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