The Sixers' trade deadline acquisition of James Harden has shaken the power structure of the Eastern Conference and captured the imagination of Sixers fans everywhere. The pairing of The Beard and The Process, many believe, could finally be the 1-2 offensive punch the Sixers have needed to make a deep playoff run, one that could culminate in an NBA championship.
The Sixers now have two players who can get the scoring that teams need in the postseason, when the game grinds down to a halt and every fourth-quarter possession sits on a knife’s edge, and could be the difference between moving on and going home for the summer.
And there is one part of their skill set — both Harden and Embiid alike — that should pay immediate dividends, and even more importantly, should pay dividends in the playoffs.
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The two Sixers superstars are nearly unparalleled in one statistic: free throws.
This season, no one's gotten to the foul line more than Embiid, who's taken 11.3 free throws per game. This is actually a down year for Harden for free throws, yet he still ranks tied for third in the NBA at 8.0 free throws per game.
Embiid is shooting 81.3 percent from the line; Harden is even better at 86.9 percent. Simple math will tell you that they give you 16 points a night from the line, but there’s so much more.
Free throws happen because of fouls. That means the other team needs to worry about foul trouble, which could seriously affect the player rotation of Sixers’ opponents. At the very least, teams will have to change the way they defend, leading to easier scoring chances for the Sixers.
NBA
Heading to the line also slows the game down. Thinking of the teams that like to get up and down the court — the Bucks, Nets, and Bulls spring to mind among East contenders — a trip to the free throw line thwarts their uptempo style, forcing them to walk the ball up the court rather than fly in for easy buckets in transition.
In addition, free throw trips are like 60-second timeouts sprinkled throughout the game, a feature that could really help a team relying heavily on a 32-year-old guard and a 280-pound center to play upwards of 40 minutes a night in a postseason series.
A trip to the line may seem minor, but as often as Harden and Embiid tend to do so, it could accumulate into a big deal for Doc Rivers and company.