Stephen A. Smith Singles Out James Harden To Be Better For Sixers

Philadelphia 76ers star James Harden has been enjoying a terrific 2022-23 season. In his first full season in Philadelphia, The Beard is averaging 21.4 points, 6.3 rebounds, and is leading the league in assists at 10.8 per game.

Harden is also shooting a career-high 38.4% from deep as he has fully embraced his new position as the second option behind Joel Embiid. Harden’s basketball IQ is so high and he understands how to make his teammates better so this is the perfect situation for him.

With that being said, it was a miserable night for Harden in Monday’s loss to the Chicago Bulls in double-overtime. He only had five points on 2-for-14 shooting, he was 0-for-6 from deep, and he had five turnovers in 46:37 of playing time. On top of that, coach Doc Rivers mentioned after the game that the foot issue seems to have popped up again for Harden as he stated that it was bothering him.

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith gave his reaction to Harden’s rough night and he has concerns about The Beard as the playoffs continue to approach:

I’m just going to say that there’s a reason for concern from the standpoint it’s just a reminder of how important he is to the Philadelphia 76ers’ aspirations this season. When you look at Tyrese Maxey, you know what to expect from him, but he’s a young player. As gifted as he is and I like seeing him as a starter more so than I like seeing him come off the bench. I think offensively, he’s more productive that way, but that’s just my opinion. You look at Tobias Harris, the Shake Miltons, the De’Anthony Meltons the world. Of course, Embiid’s a star, Tobias Harris, we get all of that, but it’s it all comes down, to me, to James Harden. You’re not beating the Boston Celtics, or the Milwaukee Bucks in a playoff series if James Harden doesn’t show up and gives you star-caliber production.

Smith then continued that he doesn’t have to be the ruthless scorer he was with the Houston Rockets, but he will have to be that second scorer in the playoffs.

He doesn’t have to be a league scoring leader like he was in Houston, but the James Harden that we’ve been seeing this year, leading the league in assists and doing the things that he’s been doing, with his productive play, and his sporadic play of offensive aggression, where he might drop 30 or 35 on you at the blink of an eye before he goes back to averaging about 21 a game. The reality is that you’re not beating the two monsters in the Eastern Conference, I know Philly’s one of them, but you’re not beating Milwaukee and you’re not beating Boston without James Harden playing at at least a relatively elite level. I’m not talking about again from years ago, but a relatively star-caliber elite kind of player. You need that from him in order to knock off one of those two guys.

It’s hard to disagree with Smith here. Sure, Embiid will be the guy and everything will come down to his play, but for the Sixers to make their run and get to the NBA finals, Harden has to be that No. 2 scorer. He proved he could do it in the win over the Milwaukee Bucks back on March 4 and it will have to be on that level consistently in the postseason.