James Harden’s postseason disappearing act is getting outdated

James Harden’s sunsetting within the playoffs is a dependable annual development. Just like Punxsutawney Phil rising as an indication spring has sprung, however with darker clouds within the forecast. For what appears like a decade, Harden has disappeared into his shell as soon as the best-of-seven portion of the schedule begins. If this appears like déja vu, that’s as a result of it’s. You possibly can join a byline from Harden’s no-show within the 2012 NBA Finals to his lobotomy by the hands of the Miami Warmth in 2022.

If historical past is any indication, the belief is that Harden will depart anybody rooting for him pissed off. The warning indicators of Harden reworking right into a playoff melanoma had been current within the remaining weeks of the common season after his explosion started to dip whereas he battled a sore Achilles. Whether or not it’s his washed Elvis health stage, his bodily ailment of the week, or simply his accelerated getting older, Harden is reliably unreliable as soon as the postseason calendar suggestions off.

The place did it go fallacious?

The Sixers can survive the form of one-dimensional recreation Harden delivered in opposition to Brooklyn’s can’t-find-the-bottom-of-a-Web lineups. It gained’t slide in a second-round matchup.

In Recreation 1, Harden couldn’t end inside, drilling solely 1-for-8 on 2-pointers and scoring 21 factors on 23 pictures.

“I couldn’t make a layup,” Harden confessed afterward.

That’s a worrisome signal for a virtuoso who had a preternatural capability to make defenses targeted on him as the first possibility, appear to be turnstiles.

In Recreation 2, Harden ran up the worth of the brick, misfiring on 10 of his 13 makes an attempt from the sector, scoring solely eight factors. Fortuitously, Philadelphia’s protection clobbered Brooklyn within the second half, holding the Nets to 84 factors to mitigate Harden’s ineffectiveness.

Whereas he’s extra beneficiant, Harden nonetheless gums up the offense. Embiid doesn’t want his pick-and-roll dance associate to dip into the fountain of youth and ship prime MVP Harden performances each night time, however it’s putting to see how far he’s fallen. Particularly in gentle of the pay reduce he took final offseason in an effort to place himself in place for a supermax extension and capitalize on the NBA’s “over 36-rule”, by setting himself up for one remaining lengthy/time period contract.

How far (and quick) the mighty have fallen

Two years in the past, Harden was touted as one of the crucial intelligent scorers of our technology. His bag of strikes left defenses so mystified, opposing gamers assumed their regular defensive stances with arms behind their backs to keep away from sending him to the road.

This season, Harden took the fewest free throws per recreation since his rookie season. The postseason, when the refs maintain their whistles, is the place Harden has tended to backside out. In his previous three playoff appearances, Harden has performed 117 straight minutes and not using a journey to the charity stripe.

Main the Nets 2-0 may look like an odd time to complain, however you’re the loopy one for not worrying about Harden’s ticking clock. That is the sequence the place Harden must be flourishing and getting wherever on the ground that he needs. As a substitute, Mikal Bridges is bottling him up like a repressed emotion.

There’s a risk Harden begins catching lightning in a bottle and delivers a string of career-defining performances, however I wouldn’t depend on it.