Harden knows exactly what Sixers need from him in bench-heavy lineups

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When the Sixers have skirted around disaster during Joel Embiid’s time on the bench, there’s often been palpable relief. 

Friday night, there was downright giddiness. 

The team’s lead over the Mavericks swelled as Embiid sat early in the fourth quarter, removing the usual suspense about when head coach Doc Rivers would re-insert his star big man. Ultimately, the Sixers outscored Dallas by five points in DeAndre Jordan’s 13 minutes and picked up a comfortable victory over a team that had won 10 of its last 12 games.

James Harden made it happen.

“It’s been great,” Harden said of his 8-2 start with the Sixers, “but I still need to be aggressive. I think tonight was a sign of that. I still need to be in attack mode and look to score the basketball, because that’s what I do. Just trying to find a balance … of when to be playmaker.

“And I think tonight, especially in that fourth quarter, me attacking, attacking, attacking, the playmaking ability is going to come. We got lobs, we got threes. So that’s going to come from my aggressiveness. You’ve got to just read the game and tonight I think I read the game well.”

Harden scored 24 points and dished out 12 assists, though his second-unit success was more notable than his final stat line.

Rivers initially planned on a duo-centric approach after the Sixers acquired Harden, aiming to keep two of his top four scorers on the court at all times. He liked the idea of Embiid with Tyrese Maxey, and of Harden next to Tobias Harris. But perhaps that won’t be a rigid rule in the playoffs. The stakes were lower than the postseason and Harris' foul trouble was a factor, yes, but Rivers saw no problem giving Harden long stretches with Shake Milton, Georges Niang, Danny Green and Jordan, who were the four bench players in Friday’s rotation. 

The lineup makes intuitive sense. At their best, Milton and Green check desired boxes as multi-positional, switchable defenders and willing catch-and-shoot players. Niang has loved playing alongside Harden and seeing all the newly available pick-and-pop threes. 

For Harden, though, is “attack mode” more natural with those second-unit players? 

“Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, because they look to me to be a little more aggressive. But even with Jo in the game … our pick-and-roll, they put two on the basketball, I hit him in the pocket, he gets a couple dunks, couple easy layups. It’s just reading the pick-and-roll defense and just making the play. We’ve got enough talent on this team to where I don’t have to do too much, but I’m ready and willing to when the times present (themselves).”

To state the obvious, Harden is better equipped to lead bench-heavy lineups than anyone on last year’s Sixers, including Harris. His presence doesn’t alleviate concerns about Jordan looking set to play his first postseason minutes in five years or the lack of complementary scoring on poor outside shooting nights. But when Harden decides to attack, he’s historically been great at it because he draws fouls, gets up threes, and tends to have satisfying answers for whatever a defense throws at him. 

The Sixers don’t need Harden to prove his unselfishness or passing acumen. 

“He’s been at times way too passive,” Embiid said. “In the playoffs, he has to be aggressive, whether it’s scoring the ball or finding guys. Same thing with me. It has to start with us. We’ve got to look to make the right plays, whether it’s scoring or playmaking.”

Of course, the Sixers’ core players will be most consequential in the playoffs. And thus far, despite a slow start Friday, the team has a plus-20.7 net rating with its post-Harden trade starters, per Cleaning the Glass. 

Against Dallas, the bench's play was boosted by a storm of Niang threes. Of his career-high 5.2 three-point attempts per game this season, 5.0 are catch-and-shoot jumpers. He’s hit 39.1 percent of those shots and not been discouraged by the occasional rough patch. 

“Well, missing shots looks bad,” Niang said. “But you want to know what looks worse? Traveling or dribbling the ball off your foot. So I’d much rather miss the shot or give myself a chance to score at least than do something stupid. I got over that real quick once I traveled or turned the ball over a couple times. I didn’t come here to look cute dribbling the ball, so I’m definitely going to go out there and shoot. That’s what I do.”

And when Harden shares the floor with bench players, it sounds like there’s similar role clarity. That doesn’t address every depth-related issue for the Sixers, but it certainly might lead to less stress while Embiid is on the sidelines. 

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