Philadelphia 76ers: Joel Embiid and James Harden are already showtime

‘Joel Embiid and James Harden just aren’t going to work. They both need the ball too much and want to be “the guy.” Plus, Harden’s a quitter. Embiid has never been an elite pick-and-roller, and at 28, he probably never will be.’

Yeah, I think it took roughly 3:17 for the Philadelphia 76ers to put those concerns to rest.

Why, you may ask, such a seemingly random amount of time? Well, because that’s how long it took for Harden to hit his first 3 of the evening, and from then, the night was just gravy. The Sixers burst out to a nine-point lead at the end of one, a 16 point advantage at the half, and a final score of 133-102.

Was it perfect? No, there were a few growing pains from the players, the coaches, and the officials, but do you know what? When you have James Harden and Joel Embiid on the court together – or, for that matter, apart – it’s a beautiful thing.

The Philadelphia 76ers finally have two Hall of Fame-caliber players.

Normally, when the Philadelphia 76ers go on offense, Joel Embiid gets double-teamed. Sometimes it happens when he gets into the painted area, sometimes it happens at the top of the key before he even gets the ball, and sometimes it happens with more than one double-teamer – aka a triple-team – but more often than not, “The Process” has to do his dance with more than one partner at a time.

James Harden changes that equation.

When the two performers were on the court together, and Harden took on some primary ball-handling duties, something incredible happened: Embiid’s second defender started to run out of the paint and onto “The Beard.” But wait, it gets better. When Harden drove into the painted area, he left not one, not two, but three different shooters around the wings open and allowed players like Tobias Harris, Tyrese Maxey, and, most crucially of all, Matisse Thybulle to let 3 balls fly without a defender in the same area code. When the final clock hit triple zeros, the Sixers made 19 3s, which is the most they’ve made in a single game all season, according to Statmuse.

Speaking of Maxey, the pride of Kentucky looked like a man possessed in his first game of the season in his new role. He flew around the court like a bullet shot out of a gun and scored his 28 points in a variety of different ways, from fastbreak dunks to open 3s, and even his signature play, the mid-range floater. Mostly paired up with Embiid, the chemistry built up all season between the two homegrown draftees remained fully intact.

And as for Philly’s imported duo of Harris and Harden? Well, they played well together too, with Harris accepting a backseat to his new teammate. While Harris’ six-point evening was nothing much to write home about, he attempted six of his nine shots from beyond the arc, and even though only two of them went in, his floor spacing was vital to the team’s success, especially with Paul Millsap miscast as a backup center.

Heck, even Thybulle showed out as the Sixers’ fifth starter, putting up 11 points in 23 minutes while shooting 4-7 from the field, 1-3 from 3, and supplementing his numbers with three steals, two assists, and seven rebounds. Oh yeah, and Thybulle had a putback dunk milliseconds before the half that surely had Xfinity Live bouncing.

Will the Philadelphia 76ers look this good every game? Probably not. No offense to KAT and company, but the Minnesota Timberwolves rank 17th in defense, and their head coach, Chris Finch, wasn’t exactly trying to scheme up a win for most of the game. But a lot of the easy shots the team committed to tape will be there moving forward, as James Harden is an elite passer, an elite scorer, and a player who will make the lives of Joel Embiid and company a whole heck of a lot easier. Friends, the “Embeard” era is upon us.