The start of the NBA season has been both very good and very bad for James Harden of the Philadelphia 76ers.
First, the bad news: the 76ers have lost their initial two games, against the Boston Celtics on Tuesday and then the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday.
The good news: Harden has scored more than 30 points in both games, with 35 on opening night and 31 against the Bucks.
He has also landed 8 rebounds in both games and 7 then 9 assists too.
A tale of two halves for James Harden 👀
1st half: 9 points
2nd half: 22 points pic.twitter.com/lPGuO13Rsm— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) October 21, 2022
Things were looking a little rough for Harden on Thursday, as he put up just 9 points in the first half of the game.
But a switch flipped inside Harden during the second half of the game and he put up 22 points during the third and fourth quarters.
That wasn’t enough to get the 76ers over the Bucks but it did show that Harden is trying quite well – perhaps harder than ever.
Harden Going Hard
All summer long, Harden was suggesting that the 2022-23 season was going to be one of his best yet.
He was training hard, he was embracing a pay cut to bring in more talent, and he was working well with his team in hopes of helping them ride high in the new year.
For the first two games, Harden is putting his money where his mouth is.
Still, this will all mean nothing if the team doesn’t start getting wins.
The talent is all there, it’s just not resulting in victories – at least not yet.
To their credit, Philadelphia has started the season by playing against the two toughest teams in their conference.
However, they will need to figure out how to defeat the Celtics and Bucks if they wish to make the Eastern Conference Finals.
