PHILADELPHIA — What could have been a close-out win for the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 6 turned out to be a dragging, brutal performance. The Boston Celtics were far from their best but did enough to force Game 7 with a 95-86 win. James Harden submitted a poor performance in the Sixers' Game 6 defeat.
Harden shot 4-16 from the field, including 0-8 from deep, and scored just 13 points while turning the ball over five times. This performance joins those from Games 2 and 3 as ugly showings for the Beard. When asked what has made this series so up and down, Harden first pointed to the officiating.
“Tonight it was just it was frustrating because I'm number one as far as fouls that don't get called. Like, it's a fact,” Harden said. “So it's frustrating as a player when the officiating tells you at halftime, ‘We missed a couple of fouls.’ That right there, there was some missed shots and fouls which is getting me a rhythm to transition points for them. A couple of them was shot clock. I'm not gonna look at my shooting percentage. I did see a lot of really good things offensively.”
Doc Rivers said previously that Harden and Embiid are the biggest and second-biggest victims of missed foul calls in the NBA. Harden surely played like he was trying to prove it yesterday, flailing his arms as the Celtics knocked the ball away from him plenty of times. His inability to get into the lane and feed Joel Embiid down low in the fourth quarter doomed the Sixers in their biggest game of the season.
Embiid also voiced his displeasure with the referees over his awful, undoubtedly incorrect goaltend call. He called their decision a “stupid-a**” call while also admitting that the Sixers' offense stalled out big-time. While the refs were certainly not their best, the Sixers know they have no one to blame but themselves.
Harden wasn't all doom and gloom after the game, though. He said that he liked the shots the Sixers got on offense despite the Celtics' starting lineup change, bringing in Robert Williams to add size.
“Their game plan was to pack the paint. They started two bigs and they packed the paint. So they forced us to make shots. You know, it's not a hard game. I'm not gonna go out there and force it. Obviously, I want to score the basketball but I'm a playmaker as well. So, I won't look too much into scoring.”
The Sixers cannot settle for the Game 6 version of Harden in the do-or-die affair. Harden, along with the rest of his teammates, has to come ready to be serious on Sunday at TD Garden.
Follow Us
Subscribe