While star Joel Ebid was sidelined with a broken fracture and concussion, the Philadelphia 76ers needed James Harden to play like the former NBA MVP in Monday’s Eastern Conference Semifinal 1 game against the Mayans. Unfortunately for Philadelphia, Harden did not come close to his top form, as he scored a miserable performance in a 106-92 defeat at the FTX Arena. Harden scored 16 points in 5 of 13 shots with nine rebounds, five assists and five rebounds. It was already expected that the Sixers would face a tough battle against the top Heat, but Philadelphia has no chance in the series if Harden continues to play like that. Naturally, fans on social media invited Harden to his quiet night. Jared Wade @Jared_Wade Is James Harden exposed as a scam on national television? Well, I never Dan Pfeiffer @danpfeiffer James Harden is not exactly going up without Ebid David Lang @Dukielang James Harden is so embarrassing to watch. His game is so boring Chris Mannix @SIChrisMannix The Sixers need more than James Harden. Much more. Ethan J. Skolnick, 5 Reasons Sports @EthanJSkolnick James Harden has as many upsets as goal fields: 5 Tyler Hero has 9 goals on the court and no turnover @ 5ReasonsSports Eliot Shorr-Parks @EliotShorrParks It really seems that Harden has not managed a single bounce in the 3 since he reached #Sixers Eliot Shorr-Parks @EliotShorrParks The most disappointing part of tonight for the Sixers must be James Harden. Heat seem very strong. They will have a chance at Embiid is back. But once again Harden did not look better at a point where the team really needed him. #Sixers Robin Lundberg @robinlundberg James Harden once scored 30 or more in 32 consecutive games. Seeing him score 30 would be shocking nowadays. Joe Fann @Joe_Fann James Harden with 16-9-5 at 16-9-5 at 5-13. This is bottomless. Period. What happened to him? Five Reasons Sports @ 5ReasonsSports The Sixers would be better off with CJ McCollum As Harden struggled, his teammates in the Sixers were not so much better. Tobias Harris scored 27 points and Tyrese Maxey added 19, but those were the only bright spots. Philadelphia shot just 6 of 34 (17.6 percent) from the three-pointer against a solid Miami defense. But despite the Sixers impressively blocking, the Heat shot just 43.5 percent off the court and 25.0 percent off the crossbar. Some fans were disappointed that Philadelphia missed the chance to steal a victory on the road thanks to its own shots. Andrew Unterberger @AUgetoffmygold My boy, this stinks. The Sixers did so many good things in the first half and left everyone in the second. Scoring 16% out of three will certainly not help, but it seems that many of the mistakes made tonight could have been avoided and / or caused by Doc. Game 2 is still very victorious. Derek Bodner @DerekBodnerNBA Second half (so far):Miami: 46Sixers: 26 Spike Eskin @SpikeEskin The Sixers are just a Joel Embiid from being in this thing. John Clark @JClarkNBCS Sixers with 14 caps that have been converted into 19 points for Miami Hit with 15 offensive rebounds So, although the Sixers shoot 46% better than the heat, the heat has 15 extra shots pic.twitter.com/Xo6BSqUf6F Bryan Toporek @btoporek The Heat have 15 offensive rebounds. The Sixers have 6. Add the awesome 3 point shot and awesome DJ minutes, and that’s the game. The Sixers are optimistic that Embiid could only return Game 3 or 4 when the series returns to Philadelphia, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The team must keep this hope because it can not depend on Harden to lead the victory. Despite his history of post-season suffering, Harden has not shown the dominance we are used to seeing at all this season and can no longer be considered a solid protagonist choice. On the other hand, Jimmy Butler (15 points and nine rebounds), Tyler Hero (25 points and 7 assists) and Bam Adebayo (24 points and 12 rebounds) led the Heat.
