James Harden has expressed his desire to be an ideal team player as he is willing to “sacrifice” to help his in form teammate Joel Embiid reach the next level.
Joel Embiid has emerged as one of the most dominant players in the NBA at the moment. After finishing last season on top of the scoring charts in the NBA, it was felt like Embiid had missed out on the Most Valuable Player award by only a margin – but the Cameroonian-French center has come back in similar form, starting this season with a bang for the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Sixers center has started the season in incredible form, averaging 32.3 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game this season. Embiid’s best performance this season undoubtedly came against the Utah Jazz as he racked up a career-best 59 points, 11 rebounds, and 8 assists – leading the Sixers to a huge win even in the absence of their talisman in the injured James Harden.
Harden began the season in fine form exciting Sixers fans who were thrilled to finally see the pair of Harden and Embiid together, however another injury setback following his troubles last season has meant that Embiid has had to take the lead. However, Harden has recently spoken on Embiid and how he intends to shape his game to help his teammate on his return to action.
The former MVP has recently spoken about how he intends to “sacrifice” while trying to push his teammate to another level.
Harden recently spoke to Philadelphia Sports about his teammate. “I was trying to figure out, how can I get Joel to be like that every single day? What do I have to do to make him get there? Whether it’s me doing something or sacrificing, or whatever the case may be. All in all, for me, and I know the entire team feels this way — it’s to win. It’s to be the last team standing.”
Harden also revealed that he has been using the time off to sit back and analyse how he can get his teammates playing at a higher level when he comes back to action. The Sixers star said: “So (I’ve been) just sitting back and observing our team, trying to find ways to get guys playing at another level so when I come back, that doesn’t drop. It’s a little bit of a game within a game.”
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