NEW YORK — The Philadelphia 76ers finished the sweep of the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday afternoon. It was important to take care of business considering the knee injury to Joel Embiid. The sweep gives him more time to rest.
If there is any concern for the Sixers coming out of this series, it’s James Harden’s struggles finishing at the rim. In the series, Harden averaged 17.3 points, 8.8 assists and 5.5 rebounds, but he shot only 34.3% from the floor. He shot 42.4% from deep, but his inability to finish layups was strange.
Per Cleaning the Glass, Harden shot only 24% at the rim in this series. That’s not what you expect from an elite offensive player such as Harden. As Philadelphia prepares for the conference semifinals, he is going to have to finish those opportunities at the rim.
“Just playing different styles and then tonight (Saturday) having way more opportunities,” Harden said after Game 4. “Like opportunities I don’t really get. I’m usually just setting people up and things like that. So it’s a lot more attacks, attacks, attacks throughout the course of a 48-minute game. I had plenty of opportunities, I just didn’t make them, but all in all, great series. Gotta move forward.”
Harden has a point. Normally, the Sixers continue to feed Joel Embiid because he is the team’s best scorer and the team’s leader, but Harden had to do more because of his absence.
Despite struggles finishing at the rim against the Nets, The Beard is feeling confident in his abilities as the Sixers move forward on their title quest.
“I know my role,” he said succinctly. “I know what Doc (Rivers) wants me to do and no matter what people expect me to do or want me to do, like whether it’s media or fans or — the coaching staff and organization has a role for me. I go out there and do it to the best of my ability and have confidence in doing it.”
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