Miami Heat Playoffs: James Harden’s Very Pedestrian Game 6

The Miami Heat are now headed to the Eastern Conference Finals. Waiting on the winner between the Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks, the Heat now have time to go home, clear their minds, and sit tight as they await their next challenge to head down to Florida.

Before moving too far ahead of things though, there are a few things from their Game 6 elimination victory over the Philadephia 76ers to discuss.

While the main topic here could be any one of those few things, from Jimmy Butler‘s magnificent continued excellence to how productive Max Strus has been over his past few outings, there is one thing on our minds that really stood out about Game 6 more than any other.

Where was James Harden? He was in the building—but was he there?

The Miami Heat are headed to the Eastern Conference Finals after beating Philly in Game 6. Along the way, they made James Harden look far less than himself.

Well, he was, however, the Miami Heat were there too. Executing their gameplan to exquisite form, the Miami Heat proceeded to hold the 76ers’ second-best player to a rather pedestrian night for a man of his stature and on the biggest stage.

It even went so far that ESPN‘s Stephen A. Smith would refer to Harden’s Game 6 showing as “horrific and impotent”. Look up the words if just reading it didn’t hit hard enough for you.

The Miami Heat would hold James Harden to just 11 points, four rebounds, and nine assists. He would shoot 4-9 from the field and 3-7 from three in a game that also featured this snazzy little Heat defensive sequence on the enigmatic scoring guard.

The Miami Heat were not having it on Thursday in Game 6. Even though they did allow two 76ers players to hit the 20-point mark, it took them 46 shots to get those 40 points.

Joel Embiid shot 7-24 from the field and 2-8 from three to get to 20 points exactly, while Tyrese Maxey shot 9-22 from the field and 1-7 from three to reach 20 points on the nose. Nobody had a really good and efficient night for the Philadelphia team.

The Miami Heat are capable of doing this when they put their minds to it and Game 6 proves it, especially after being unable to take Games 3 or 4 in Philadelphia prior to Thursday. If they continue to play up to their capability, yes, they do have a shot to win it all.