Clippers Beat 76ers While NBA Fans Blast James Harden's Struggles vs. Maxey in Return
Timothy Rapp@@TRappaRT
Featured Columnist IVMarch 28, 2024
There was no love lost between the Philadelphia 76ers fans and James Harden in his first game back in the city after he forced a trade to the Los Angeles Clippers in November.
Harden, as expected, was booed upon his introduction and basically every time he touched the ball throughout the contest.
He didn't exactly silence the crowd with a signature performance—he was fairly pedestrian, finishing with 16 points after shooting 6-of-15 shooting from the field—but did have the last laugh as the Clippers earned a 108-107 comeback win.
Harden did play the role of facilitator, dishing 14 assists while adding five rebounds and two steals, but he countered that by looking like his feet were stuck in concrete on the defensive end.
While Harden was ho-hum, his former teammate Tyrese Maxey had another excellent showing, putting up 26 points, eight assists, seven and two blocks in the loss.
And yes, folks on social media enjoyed seeing the youngster blow by the veteran on multiple occasions throughout the game:
Harden will likely deny getting any sort of enjoyment from beating his old team, much as he denied caring much about the potential fervor of Philly fans before the game.
"I don't know, and I don't care," he told reporters Monday when asked what type of greeting he was expecting upon his return. "We have bigger problems than me worrying about Philadelphia, you know what I mean? We got bigger problems."
Those problems included six losses in the previous nine games. But beating Philly moved them to 45-27 on the season, leaving them fourth in the Western Conference, which would allow them to host at least a first-round series.
Philly has even deeper issues, at least until Joel Embiid returns. The Sixers dropped to 39-34, keeping them eighth in the East. At this point, the road to the playoffs likely goes through the Play-In Tournament.
A win over the Clippers would have not only helped in the standings, but would have given the Philadelphia crowd some extra Harden fodder. No such luck, even if Maxey was the better player on Wednesday.