PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers have a new star duo, James Harden and Joel Embiid, who are still trying to figure things out on the floor.
The Sixers swung the deal at the deadline — 11 games ago — to move Ben Simmons to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Harden. They had another learning opportunity on Sunday when a 16-point lead slipped away in a home loss to the short-handed Toronto Raptors.
Embiid was held to 6-for-20 shooting while Harden was called for an offensive foul, which became a flagrant foul, while driving the lane with Toronto leading by two points.
Even so, the star duo had solid numbers. Embiid had 21 points and 13 rebounds. Harden had 17 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. The performance underscored how the star duo can still be effective when facing tough defenses.
Raptors coach Nick Nurse was asked about the star duo.
“It’s two guys that are really, really hard to guard on a number of fronts,” said Nurse. “There’s usually a whole game plan for both of them and now you have them playing together. I think, and I have a tremendous amount of respect for both, I think they’re both great players, and I think this is a really great team. I think they have some good experience around them and some good shooting, those kind of things that they need. I think it looks pretty good. I think they’ll keep building here as the season closes.”
The Sixers can control the pace in games due to how many times Harden and Embiid get to the free-throw line. They can slow a game and disrupt an opposing team’s defense. This is one of those duos that keeps opposing coaches up at night.
“I think part of the reason is why they control a lot of that is obviously Harden is like a surgeon out there figuring out where he’s gonna go so it takes some time,” Nurse added. “Embiid is the same, they get those guys the ball, and they dissect what is happening and what is the coverage and where people are and those kinds of things and they score a lot and they shoot a lot of free throws which enables them to get back.”
Harden and Embiid still have a lot of things to figure out, but it’s good for them to face tough teams such as the Raptors and grow as a duo. Now, they have to turn those lessons into wins.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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