On March 24, Beijing time, 76ers narrowly defeated the Lakers 126-121 on the road. Facing the Lakers, who lacked LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the 76ers were forced into a desperate situation and only locked in the final moments with free throws.
For the 76ers, who have a neat lineup and aim to compete for the championship, it is unacceptable to play with the Lakers who lack two cores. As "The Athletic" data analysis expert John Hollinger said, so far the other strong teams in the East have issued a declaration to win the championship, proving their championship success, but the 76ers have a good winning percentage after exchanging Harden, but the content of the game is lackluster, and they have not yet proved that they have enough strength to rush to the championship in the hard battle.
The 76ers have all sorts of problems, but at the heart of all of them is the problems caused by the combination of Harden and Joel Embiid. Many people compare the Denti combination with the OK combination, but so far, the Dendi combination has not shown a competition influence comparable to the OK combination. Harden and Embiid are both top stars apart, how is their combination compared to the OK combination?
It's not that the emperor is not strong enough, it's just that the times have changed
Is Embiid strong? strong! Healthy Embiid is definitely a strong contender for the league's number one center. This season, Embiid played a career masterpiece, averaging 29.8 points per game plus 11.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and a player efficiency of 31.15, he is a popular candidate in the MVP battle, and it is promising to win this award for the first time in his career.
In terms of playing style, Embiid has achieved a perfect blend of tradition and fashion. Embiid, who has studied the video of Olajuwon's game to practice dream dance steps, still maintains a super low-post attack ability, while delving into the playing style of outside players such as Kobe Bryant has made Embiid have the ability to work in the middle distance, coupled with hard work in long-range shooting, he also has the projection ability needed for the new era of interior line.
Defensively, Embiid's size advantage is there, and the basket is powerful enough to interfere with a large number of shots from opponents.
At first glance, Embiid is both offensive and defensive, worthy of the MVP. But in fact, Embiid is not perfect, and his flaws make the 76ers face a difficult problem of raising the team's ceiling.
The past three years of playoffs have proven a point: Teams with centers , even modern centers — are hard to reach championship trophies. The championship-winning Raptors, Lakers, Bucks, and the No. 5 all have tall centers, but their tall centers are more like tool people. At the crucial moment, the best of the three teams is the small-ball tactic of removing the tall center. Nominally a small ball, but in reality, the presence of Siakam, Davis, and Antetokounmpo has not reduced the overall height of the three teams much.
It is said that the closer to the basket, the higher the certainty of attack, under this theory, the center should play the core of the system. But correspondingly, closer to the basket also means that the defensive pressure is greater, and in the era of data analysis, any team knows how to prioritize locking the basket and the three-point line. Therefore, at the key moment of the game, the ball is in the hands of Embiid, and with Embiid's style of play, it is difficult for him to defeat the opponent, even if he has better penalty skills than O'Neal and is not afraid of being "cut".
In this day and age, to win at the top of the game, you must have ball-carrying attackers at the back or on the flanks, including 2019's Kawhi Leonard, 2020's James, 2021's Chris Middleton and Judy Holliday. The Nuggets have Jokic at their core, and Jokic has played a rare high-level stat in history, but without Porter Jr. and Murray, Jokic alone can't make too much waves.
Including the defensive end, Embiid's basket guard is an excellent level, but he is defending and shooting 59% of the opponent's basket, which is still far from the top basket guards such as Rudy Gobert, Ivan Mobley, Miles Turner and Jarrett Allen. Coupled with the 76ers' defensive strategy, Embiid prioritizes crouching under the basket, and they are easily targeted from mid-range. Today, even the Lakers, who have always been not very good in the middle distance, hit 12 mid-range shots and made a lot of articles in the middle distance. If you're in the mood for the impression, you'll remember how the 76ers were killed by Durant, Seth Curry and Kyrie Irving in their previous games against the Nets.
It is not that the Harden West Emperor has no characteristics, only that the attack and defense are not comprehensive
The success of the OK combination, Kobe's strength can not be ignored. But the two partners Embiid has worked with, whether it's Simmons or Harden, have their own characteristics, but they don't have the technology that Kobe Bryant has.
On the offensive end, Simmons needless to say, for many years he has not practiced the ability to project, and his role in the positional battle team needs to attack the stronghold is almost zero, which is the point where the opponent will wantonly empty. Simmons' defensive prowess is not to be said, and he was also a strong contender for the best defensive player before he was injured, but simmons is suitable for puzzles, not the second pole of the super duo.
Harden, as a former MVP player and scoring champion, should be able to compete with Kobe Bryant in offense, right? Not to mention harden also has the ability to organize first-hand. But the reality is that Harden should theoretically have a stronger influence on the game, but in fact, Embiid's side has not turned the theory into reality.
why? Because Harden's style of play requires space support too much, his offensive three-plate axe is easy to target. The recent performance can be seen that the space of the 76ers is very crowded, the opponent only needs a strong side 3 defenses 2 or joint defense to limit the power of the 76ers offense, Harden's recent efficiency decline errors have increased, largely unrelated to the state. Harden's offense relies heavily on three-pointers, layups and free throws, and he originally made up for the weakness of the low number of middle shots by throwing, but this season his mid-range shooting crosshairs plummeted, which allowed opponents to target his three-pointers and breakthroughs.
Simply put, Harden doesn't have Kobe's ability to ignore distance solutions in a space environment. It is said that the shooting is outdated, but in fact, among the top stars, the shooting has never been left behind, it is still a big killer, and the so-called shooting is only aimed at those role players, who have moved the shooting area from the middle distance to the outside of the three-point line.
There is also defense, Kobe Bryant is a member of the defensive team, he does not need the team to use the limited resources to help him fill the defensive loopholes, but Harden needs. Bryant can give the Lakers a bonus on the defensive end, but Harden will burn high incense without dragging his legs. Since Harden joined, the 76ers' 100-game deficit has risen to more than 110 points. Danny Green is getting older, and the 76ers can only start with the offensively unimpressive Sable, even if Sebel hits all three-point shots in a single game, opponents will still let him go, which in turn directly affects the 76ers' offensive space.
epilogue
The 76ers have a lot of problems, they invested heavily in Harris, but Harris did not become the third big man of the team, he is the fourth position of the team, but unlike Siakam, Antetokounmbo and Davis, who can swing to the fifth position as a center in the small ball, he swings down to the flanks and is not defensive enough. Niang, Cockmaz and Milton have their own problems, and the 76ers bench lineup is not strong enough.
No team is perfect, there are problems with the lineup configuration that many teams will face, and the problem with the 76ers is that there are also problems with their two cores. How exactly do you get Harden and Embiid to form a stronger synergy and produce a stronger version of the 76ers? Can Doug Rivers find the answer to this question?