Despite being a former league MVP, a 10-time NBA All-Star, a three-time scoring champion, and a member of the NBA 75th Anniversary Team, James Harden still feels like he needs to alter his approach to the game in order to help the Philadelphia 76ers prosper.

He appears to be quite alright with it too.

After beating his former ball club, the Brooklyn Nets, via a first-round sweep, the veteran guard discussed his motivation moving forward in the 2023 NBA Playoffs. Though someone of his caliber playing with a talent like Joel Embiid may appear to be a seamless fit on the surface, James Harden kept noting that his tenure with the team has seen an ample amount of “sacrifice.”

“I told myself this year, that it's just, I'm all big on sacrifice. Whether it's the money or my role, just letting everything go and just sacrificing — and then seeing what it gives me,” James Harden said during Game 4's postgame media session. “Throughout the entire year, people expect me to be the scoring James Harden and the James Harden that goes out there and gets 40, 50 points. And then people talk: ‘Oh, you can't win like that.' And then I'll go out there and get 20 points and 11 assists. And it's like, ‘Well, he's not the old James Harden no more.' [There's] always going to be something to say so I think about my role and what I can control and on impacting this team the best that I can every single night. And sacrifice is my word that I'm going to continue to use for this year and see where it gets me.”

Paving the way toward the first-round series win for the Sixers alongside the MVP frontrunner in Joel Embiid, despite his ever-changing role over the last several years, James Harden still produced like the franchise cornerstone he's established himself as throughout his 14-year NBA career.

In 36.1 minutes a game during this year's postseason, the star guard is posting impressive per-game averages of 17.3 points, 8.8 assists, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.5 steals while shooting 42.4% from beyond the arc. During the club's closeout Game 4, Harden would finish with 17 points, 11 assists, 8 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 block.