When the Philadelphia 76ers acquired James Harden in a mammoth trade with the Brooklyn Nets at the league's February deadline, they considered him the missing piece to their championship puzzle. But the veteran superstar has yet to exorcise his old playoff demons, and it's seriously hurting the Sixers' hopes of capturing an NBA title this summer.
In Philadelphia's second-round opening loss to the top-seeded Miami Heat on Monday in FTX Arena, Harden wasn't much of a contributor. He scored only 16 points on 13 shots across 35 minutes of action, and posted as many turnovers (5) as assists. Harden's streak of being held under 25 points also extended to 11 straight postseason games. And to make matters even worse for the Sixers, it's still unclear whether MVP candidate Joel Embiid will play in their series, as he suffered an orbital fracture and a concussion during the first round.
"He's passive, he's not even shooting. All those other years, he was shooting. But this time around, he's not even shooting. That's a big-time problem," Zach Gelb said during The Zach Gelb Show on Tuesday. "If you look long-term here, Philly has a big-time decision. I don't want to say that it's an easy decision... I wouldn't extend Harden after this season... You've really got to figure out who can be that complement to Embiid, like the Sixers have never seen before...
"So, if I'm the Sixers, I'm not extending Harden in the offseason if he opts out. That's my opinion. I'm not [76ers president] Daryl Morey, who's BFF's with the guy... It'd be a massive failure of judgement to extend Harden this offseason. It's simple -- he's not a guy, with Embiid, who's going to win a championship... Now, he's afraid to shoot the ball, or he's not willing to shoot. Thirteen shots when you don't have Embiid on the court? That's pathetic..."
Philadelphia, which clinched the East's fourth seed with a 51-31 overall record, will play Game 2 against Miami on Wednesday (7:30 ET tip-off). According to FiveThirtyEight projections, the Sixers currently have a 29-percent chance to reach the East finals and just a 10-percent chance to make the NBA Finals for the first time since 2001. The franchise hasn't won a title since 1982-83.
Gelb's complete thoughts on Harden and the Sixers' issues can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow The Zach Gelb Show on Twitter @ZachGelb and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.