Toronto Raptors

By any measure, it's not the kind of superstar production the Sixers were hoping for when they moved mountains to bring Harden to Philadelphia.

In the Raptors' two wins, Harden is averaging just 18.5 points a game and eight assists while shooting just 32 per cent from the floor. “People get lost in his scoring numbers, but what James brings to us is what we absolutely needed before we had James. We needed a guy who could run our team that can make plays for our guys. Anecdotally he seems to have lost a step since suffering a hamstring tear in the playoffs last year with Brooklyn. He’s shooting just 40 per cent on drives so far against the Raptors — he shot 64 per cent in the 2020 playoffs — this after a season when he shot less than 60 per cent from inside three feet for the first times since his rookie season. “When I was getting doubled, we were not aggressive attacking the ball,” Embiid added. “He’s a great passer,” said Sixers head coach Doc Rivers earlier in the series. The two would join forces in an unstoppable pick-and-roll pairing and, in those moments Embiid rested, Harden’s presence ensured there would always be another superstar to hold the fort. But Harden has his own issues. He was reasonably good in Game 1, when he put up 22 points and 14 assists, albeit on 6-of-17 shooting. At the very least, Harden is at what could be a career-defining moment. It’s one thing to have bad games at key moments over a long post-season career. And the results are hard to argue with. Stream 250+ marquee NBA matchups from around the league, including over 40 Raptors games.