James Harden‘s debut as a member of the Philadelphia 76ers couldn’t have gone any better. Harden suited up on Friday night for the first time since he was traded by the Nets in the deal that sent a package headlined by Ben Simmons back to Brooklyn, and the early returns were quite good — the Sixers blitzed the Minnesota Timberwolves, 133-102, with Harden putting up 27 points on 7-for-12 shooting with 12 assists, eight rebounds, and five made threes.
27 PTS (7-12 FGM) | 8 REB | 12 AST | 5 3PM
James Harden dropped 27 PTS in his debut to secure the win for the @sixers! pic.twitter.com/oTXt96xTtn
— NBA (@NBA) February 26, 2022
Philly has been quite good in recent years, a pretty consistent regular season winner and playoff team. But as Joel Embiid said after the game, Harden brought something that the team has not had at any point during his time with the franchise.
“That was probably the most wide open I’ve ever been in my career.”
Joel Embiid seems to enjoy playing with James Harden
pic.twitter.com/VD94pp7Mb2
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) February 26, 2022
“You should have seen my face every single time, especially in the fourth,” Embiid said when asked his thoughts on Harden. “You know, the first three quarters, obviously making plays for all of us. That was probably the most wide open I’ve ever been in my career. I had a lot of easy baskets, I used to have to work for everything. But in the fourth quarter, the shotmaking ability, shot creation, you should have seen my face. I was just like, ‘We’ve never had this, nothing close to it.’ So, hopefully that continues. We didn’t even play our best, but I think we can be way better than that.”
Embiid had 34 points on 10-for-18 shooting with 10 assists in the win.