Barkley brings up big Harden concern after ugly Nets loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Sixers' loss in Ben Simmons' return to Philadelphia was ugly and embarrassing for a number of reasons, from him yukking it up on the bench with his new teammates to the way the entire Sixers team played on a big night on national television.
But perhaps the most frustrating, and concerning, part of the evening was watching new Sixers star James Harden absolutely flounder against his old squad.
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Was it a case of the Nets knowing their opponent, both as a former teammate and - in the case of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving - as a good friend? Maybe.
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It also might be a bigger problem that, as Harden's honeymoon phase draws to a close and we start to get serious about what this team can be, could rear its head again in the future.
Sixers legend and current TNT analyst Charles Barkley criticized Harden's performance late Thursday night, and brought up something that should at least give Sixers fans a bit of a headache for the rest of the day:
"James has got the reputation - I think he's struggled in all big games. If you go back and look, even when he was in Houston when they should've beat the Golden State Warriors, they were up until Chris Paul got hurt.
"[...]
"James has developed a reputation - and it's fair - James is a terrific player, a great player, but when the lights are the brightest he has played awful.
"The thing about being a great player, you don't have to play great. You just can't stink up the joint, and he stunk up the joint tonight. And now - Shaq and Kenny know this - the next big game, and the next big game."
I hate to say it, but Barkley is right. Players like to say "just another game" but it was clear that, for both teams, last night's game meant more than your typical early March clash. And while Irving and Durant rose to the occasion, and Embiid seemed ready to do so until every one of his teammates let him down, Harden finished the night 3-of-17 from the field and 3-of-7 from deep. Absolutely unacceptable numbers.
It brings to mind a number of Harden's previous playoff misfires, when he's been the main option or one of the two main options on his team and simply come up small in big moments.
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He's played in four Game 7s since leaving the Thunder and becoming a face-of-the-franchise guy. Here are his counting stats in those four games:
- 25.5 PTS
- 11.5 AST
- 6.2 REB
Pretty good, right? You'd take that from anyone... until you check out his shooting splits in those four games:
- 34.5% FG
- 17.0% 3P
- 86.6% FT
YIKES.
The whole point of the Sixers acquiring Harden was to have a primary ballhandler who can get his own offense, particularly late in games (and especially late in playoff games) when things slow down and you need someone to simply go get a bucket.
Harden is great at that in random moments - he showed in his first five games with the Sixers that he can still be unguardable both on the perimeter and slashing to the bucket - but if he can't do it in big moments, that's gonna be a problem.
ESPN's Zach Lowe, one of the better basketball minds and analysts in the world, talked about the perception around Harden's big moment reputation in a podcast just after the trade deadline last month. He admitted that sometimes media types get caught up in narratives about players, so he went and watched individual shot attempts from Harden's playoff career instead of just box score diving.
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Here's what Lowe found:
"James Harden's postseason resume is lacking, completely lacking almost, in big moments since he hit his shot against San Antonio in the 2012 conference finals when he played four teams ago, for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
"I did the deep dive. I went and did it before the 2020 series against the Lakers, which Houston embarrassed themselves in. Harden's fourth quarter numbers in big games, elimination games, 2-2 series games are bad. His crunch time numbers are bad. Most of his best playoff games are when his teams are up 3-0, down 3-0, up 3-1, down 3-1. Lower leverage.
"A lot of his crunch-time baskets - I went and watched all of his field goal attempts in some of the biggest fourth quarters of his postseason career, and his crunch-time shooting percentage stinks - are, 'Okay, Golden State's up eight, we'll concede a layup so that you don't get a three,' and James Harden inflates his crunch-time field goal percentage from zero to something better than zero with essentially a conceded layup.
"Right now, his postseason resume is justifiably defined by meltdowns."
This. Is. A. Problem.
Harden is still a great player. That much is clear. But, as Chuck said, you can't have your great player turning into a pumpkin when the stakes are high. That's exactly what chased Ben Simmons from Philadelphia to Brooklyn.
So to have this issue rear its head for the first time when Simmons was in the building as an enemy? It's an irony that shouldn't be lost on even the most insouciant Philadelphia sports fans.
He has to be better in these kinds of games - the playoff atmosphere types, the actual playoff types - or else the Sixers are going to be stuck exactly where they've been for the last few years: good, but not good enough.
