Getty Doc Rivers and James Harden chat during a break in the action between the Sixers and Heat in Game 2.
Everyone says a playoff series doesn’t start until the home team loses. Well, that hasn’t happened yet in the Eastern Conference semifinals matchup between the Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat. And James Harden doesn’t see anything changing between now and Game 5.
Harden made a bold prediction after the Sixers’ 119-103 loss in Game 2 on Wednesday night. The 10-time All-Star was trying to illustrate how confident the Philly locker room was feeling despite being down 2-0 in the series. While Harden stopped short of a flat-out guarantee, he made it clear that he and his teammates have no intention of losing Game 3 or Game 4 at Wells Fargo Center in South Philadelphia.
“For the most part, we are still a confident group and we’ll go home and do what we’re supposed to do,” Harden told reporters after Game 2. “In the playoffs, the series doesn’t start until the road team wins. We didn’t get one of the first two, but we’ll go home and take care of business and be back for Game 5.”
James Harden has 16 points and five assists while the Heat are smothering him on every possession. He’s not the guy he once was, but he’s not dead. Other guys have to make shots. Also, play the small-ball lineup.
Harden enjoyed his best game of the series in Game 2: 20 points, 9 assists, 4 rebounds. He was still deferring to teammates like Tobias Harris (21 points) and Tyrese Maxey (34 points) at times but he’s not apologizing for being a facilitator. The biggest problem for Philly was missed shots. They shot 45.2% from the field (38-for-84) and 26.7% from three-point land (8-for-30). Not good enough.
“When it comes down to it, you gotta make shots,” Harden said, “especially on the road against a really good team, it’s pretty simple. We got enough stops consistently when we needed to, got numerous chances, we make a couple shots it gives us more confidence and it puts more pressure on them. I felt like we never really put that pressure on them throughout the course of the game.”
“Shotmaking. It’s pretty simple. When it comes down to it, you’ve got to make shots. Especially on the road. It’s pretty simple. We had numerous chances”
-James Harden on @NBCSPhilly
Sixers 8-30 from 3 – 26.7%
Heat 14-29 from 3 – 48.3%
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Doc Rivers Updates Joel Embiid’s Status
Joel Embiid’s status for Game 3 is very much up in the air despite a slew of encouraging reports. Sixers head coach Doc Rivers confirmed his star center “looked good” during a recent FaceTime call, but he is far from out of the woods. Embiid hasn’t cleared any of the concussion protocols necessary to return, according to Rivers.
“He looked good as far as talking,” Rivers told reporters after Game 2. “But he’s got so many steps to go through. I don’t think he’s cleared any of them right now. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
Doc Rivers says “I really don’t know” if Joel Embiid will be ready for Game 3. Said he FaceTimed with him today. He believes he hasn’t cleared any of the steps necessary to return.
The Sixers planned to evaluate Embiid when they arrived back in Philadelphia on Thursday morning. The team had an afternoon shootaround scheduled with another update expected at that time. Game 3 is slated to tip-off at 7 p.m. on Friday night.
Bam Adebayo Thriving Without Embiid Around
Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo is a rising young star, a guy with one All-Star appearance under his belt and who is a consistent candidate for Defensive Player of the Year. But let’s face it: Adebayo has had it easy in the Sixers-Heat playoff series without Embiid around.
Adebayo is averaging 23.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game over the first two games. He’s been making mincemeat out of Philly’s backup big men: Paul Millsap, DeAndre Jordan, Paul Reed. So, yes, the Sixers need Embiid to get healthy quickly before this series slips away.
In Joel Embiid’s absence, Bam Adebayo has made light work of the 76ers big men in the series thus far.
In their 1 regular season meeting, Adebayo scored 4 points on 2-6 shooting with Embiid defending him (per NBA Advanced Stats).
