PHILADELPHIA – James Harden looks reinvigorated to begin the 2022-23 season. The Sixers veteran has posted two massive performances to start his first full season in Philly and he's done it with the help of…midrange shots?

Yes, James Harden is not only taking a lot of midrange shots — but he's also making them. According to ESPN, Harden set a career-high in midrange shots made in a game with six in the Sixers' loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. He ended the night with 31 points and nine rebounds, both game-highs, as well as eight rebounds and two steals.

“I’ve been working on my game this summer, so I just took what the defense gave me,” Harden said after game. “I had a couple of threes that I missed but you can’t control that. You put the work in and you live with the results. So, tonight, they gave me midrange shots and I took them.”

James Harden is still using physicality to get to the rim but is now sprinkling in way more middies when he can't find a triple or a path to the hoop. Although he didn't get up a good look for the potential game-winning shot attempt, he was brilliant in the Sixers' 2022-23 home opener.

“He took what they gave him. Obviously, threes and layups are nice but when you got a guy with his ability, he can make ‘em from anywhere,” Doc Rivers said after the game. The Sixers' head coach added that Harden hit the toughest shot of the game when he buried a jumper off a quick pass from Embiid, which tied the game with a little over three minutes left.

Prior to the second dominant James Harden performance in two games, Tyrese Maxey said that the most important thing to The Beard is the Sixers' success. He said that he will do whatever it takes to help them win. As evidenced tonight, that includes making a drastic, sudden change to his shot diet when needed. Although the Sixers are 0-2 so far this season, Harden's play has been a primary source of optimism and a very promising start to his 2022-23 campaign.