Daily News | Tyrese Maxey, not James Harden, is the scorer the Sixers need to overcome an injured Embiid | David Murphy
Tyrese Maxey can’t be settling for 12 shots per game. Not if Joel Embiid is as limited as he looked on Saturday afternoon. Not if the Sixers plan on playing beyond the next round.Let’s be clear about the straits they face heading into Monday’s Game 5. If the Sixers were playing anybody but the Raptors, they’d be staring down the barrel of a 2-2 series with their big man having been diagnosed with a torn ligament in his shooting thumb following an MRI.
Again, that’s not an indictment. Harden still provides plenty of value for the Sixers. Frankly, the way he has impacted the game without scoring the ball should make you more confident in how he will age. It’s easy to forget that he injured his hamstring less than a year ago: 46 weeks ago Monday, to be exact. There’s a chance a full offseason is what he needs.
There is only one answer, then. Harden isn’t the one the Sixers should ask to do more. Harden should be the Harden he has been when he has been at his best with this team: the guy who isn’t trying to force stuff at the rim the way he was in Game 4. Right now, he is physically equipped to be a facilitator. But to be that facilitator, he needs a primary scorer to play off of. For three games, that player was Embiid. If Game 4 was any indication, it now needs to be Maxey.
That said, Tobias Harris and Danny Green are who they are. Harris has played great this series, but he still isn’t a knock-down weak-side shooter. Green was always streaky, even when he wasn’t 34 and hobbled. If the Sixers can’t run their offense through Embiid, they need to run it through somebody.
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