James Harden’s fourth-quarter scoring drought vs. Celtics worse than Ben Simmons infamous performance in 2021

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By Webdesk



After a brilliant 45-point Game 1 against the Boston Celtics without Joel Embiid, it looked like James Harden was ready to put his ignominious playoff reputation behind him. After a nine-point dud in the Celtics’ 112-88 Game 7 elimination of the Philadelphia 76ers by the Celtics, that reputation is still intact.

Harden went 3 for 11 from the field on Sunday afternoon, including 1-for-5 3-point shooting, dishing out seven assists and five turnovers. In eight minutes during the fourth quarter, Harden took just one shot and had one assist. You might give him a pass since the game was already pretty much out of reach at that point, but it remained an ugly series of late-game disappearing acts for Harden.

During the fourth quarters of the last three games of the conference semifinal series against the Celtics, Harden scored zero points in 32 minutes. Yes, you read that right. James Harden, who has the 25th most points in NBA history, failed to score a single point in the fourth quarter of the series’ three most pivotal games.

Game 1 (win)

10

15

5-7

2

Game 2 (Loss)

12

8

2-5

4

Game 3 (loss)

DNP

DNP

DNP

DNP

Game 4 (win)

12

10

4-5

1

Game 5 (win)

12

0

0-1

4

Game 6 (Loss)

11

0

0-4

1

Game 7 (loss)

8

0

0-1

1

Harden took just six shots in the fourth quarter of Games 5-7, down from just the last frame of Game 1. Scoring isn’t the only way he can influence the game, but he also had only two total assists in the fourth quarter of Games 6 and 7. This comes a year after Harden went scoreless, making only one field goal attempt in the fourth quarter. of an elimination game against the Miami Heat.

“James in particular, I thought he was trying to do the right things tonight,” 76ers coach Doc Rivers said after the loss. “I really did.”

The performance harkens back to Ben Simmons’ infamous performance in the 2021 conference semifinals against the Atlanta Hawks when he was criticized in the fourth quarter for his lack of assertiveness. He was squarely blamed by Joel Embiid for turning Game 7’s tide in Atlanta’s direction when he passed up an opportunity at the perimeter instead to Matisse Thybulle, who fouled one of two free throws made.

Simmons’ fourth quarter got a lot of attention, and rightly so. He failed to make a single field goal in the fourth quarter of Games 5-7. But despite not firing a shot, Simmons was still more productive than Harden in the fourth quarters of the last three games of their respective conference semifinals — Simmons scored five points on 10 free throw attempts, while Harden failed to score. shot shot. free throw and missed all six of his field goal attempts. Simmons was minus 10 on that stretch. Harden was minus 21.

Harden’s Game 1 performance was transcendent, propelling the 76ers to a landslide win to steal home field advantage. But no one is saying Harden can’t play well in the playoffs. However, his record shows that production is severely limited in the most important postseason games of his career. Getting zero points in the fourth quarters of the series’ most important games when his team was eliminated only continues that alarming trend.

Notably, Harden took a pay cut to give Philadelphia flexibility last season, and now he has the option to cancel his contract and enter free agency. Rumors swirled about a possible return to the Houston Rockets this summer, and after Game 7 Harden said his relationship with Rivers is “OK” and that he just wants to have “a chance to compete” wherever he ends up.

Wherever he goes, Harden’s lack of production during the stretch against the Celtics certainly makes the decision by both him and the 76ers one of the more compelling NBA off-season storylines.

“I think he generally enjoyed being here,” Rivers said of Harden after losing Game 7. “You know, it’s hard for him. We asked him to play a little bit differently than he used to be used to. I think it made us a better team. And unfortunately, I thought, for James sometimes it wasn’t always the best.” for him. But he still did. And so, you know, you appreciate that as a coach.”





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