HThere was a time not too distant in which James Harden he was listed as the best offensive player in NBA history. A time in which the mere presence of ‘La Barba’ made his rivals tremble and in which the guard was almost enough by himself to win game after game with offensive recitals that seemed out of another era. A time when the guard was a perennial candidate for the MVP of the season that he won in 2018. A time that now seems very far away.
Harden decided to change the course of his career and chose to stop being a lone star in Texas to join Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn in search of a ring that first LeBron and then Curry and his Warriors had denied him. His decision immediately made the Nets all-around favorites with a team whose attack seemed nothing short of unstoppable.
Nevertheless, Harden hasn’t found the right ecosystem in Brooklyn to fully exploit its virtues, which are not few. The escort It does not end up having the space it deserves in the schemes of a Nash who does not find the right place for it and the team notices it in games like the one they lost to the Suns (107-113). A crash in which Durant barely rested three minutes and in which ‘La Barba’ (four of 15 in field goals and zero of six from the triple) ended up being booed by his own fans after his seventh turnover. Not even the triple-double (12 + 13 + 14) saved from the anger of the fans a player who is far from the one who one day could reign.
James Harden, an NBA MVP booed by his own fans
The opposite of Harden happens to some Phoenix Suns who started the season with doubts, but who have been in charge of erasing them at a stroke based on victories. Specifically from 16 consecutive wins which confirm them as the fittest team in the NBA and which serve to remind their rivals that last season, when they reached the Finals, was no mere coincidence. With Chris Paul in charge and Devin Booker As a spearhead, not even a super team like the Nets can stop the best-oiled machine in the league that already dreams of greater heights.
NIGHT RESULTS
- 76ers 120-121 Timberwolves
- Hawks 90-99 Knicks
- Nets 107-113 Suns
- Cavaliers 105-92 Magic
- Bulls 104-107 Heat
- Rockets 146-143 Hornets
- Mavericks 114-120 Wizards
- Jazz 127-105 Pelicans
Anthony Edwards he was late last season. An injury prevented him from fighting on equal terms with LaMelo Ball for Rookie of the Year. However, the player is taking advantage of his second year to claim himself as one of the great names to consider in the future of an NBA that surrenders to the scoring ease and spectacularity of ‘Ant-Man’.
In the same match where Ant-Man ruthlessly smashed hoops, Joel Embiid returned to the courts after two weeks away from them because of the Covid. The African pivot could not lead his team to victory but once again showed that he is one of the best interiors in the competition with 42 points and 14 rebounds after one of the worst episodes of his life, as he confessed in the press room: “I thought I was not going to be able to recover. I was that bad. I’m just grateful to be here. “
It was one of the games of the night and it did not disappoint. Chicago and Miami, two of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, proved that they are two of the best defenders in the championship (seventh and second respectively) and managed to minimize the attack of their rivals. Especially the Heat, who took advantage of the bad night from the triple of the Illinois team, who he finished with 28% after missing 28 triples of the 39 he tried.
The 14,687 spectators who gathered at the Toyota Center in Houston saw their tickets amortized with one of the most entertaining games so far this season in the NBA. A clash that lasted until two overtime periods and that became an offensive basketball song with two teams, Houston and Charlotte, who combined to add 289 points between the two. A recital that ended up falling on the side of the Rockets, who added their second consecutive victory (146-143) and the third of the course.
