In the early morning of April 4 Vietnam time, the Philadelphia 76ers had a relatively tough 112-108 victory at the home field of the Cleveland Cavaliers. This hard-fought victory officially put the name of the Philly football team in the group of teams that are guaranteed a spot in the Playoffs. With James Harden, the noisy decision to “jump the team” before Trade Deadline now shows the sharp sense of the 32-year-old star.

At the present time, the Philadelphia 76ers have 4 matches left to end the 2021/22 NBA group stage and almost the 4th seed position in the East will be ranked by coach Doc Rivers and his team. With their current position, the Philadelphia 76ers can still climb to the top 2 or 3 in the East if the teams above them happen or have their own plans.

Looking at the big picture, things are clearly not over for James Harden and his teammates. However, no matter how calculated, one thing can be seen that James Harden’s decision to leave the Brooklyn Nets is extremely correct at the present time.

In contrast to James Harden’s leisurely outlook, the two stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are still struggling in every match. The loss to the Atlanta Hawks 115-122 yesterday officially pushed the Brooklyn Nets down to 10th place on the Eastern rankings, the last position in the Play-in group.

At the present time, the Brooklyn Nets are still certain of a spot in the Play-In when their next-ranked opponent, the New York Knicks, has no hope left. However, with the 1-match survival format at Play-In, Brooklyn Nets still has the goal of rising to 7th or 8th place, which will help them have more opportunities if they are unlucky.

Returning to the leisureliness of James Harden and his teammates, their victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers today was indeed not easy. As a guest on the opponent’s field, if the Philadelphia 76ers had not had the explosion from Joel Embiid with 44 points, perhaps a defeat would have been added to the overall achievements of coach Doc Rivers and his team this season.

In today’s match, James Harden contributed 21 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Today’s triple-double of the “Beard God” partly shows the chemistry with the players of the Philadelphia 76ers. Previously, at the time of landing at the Philadelphia 76ers, fans as well as fans expressed doubts about the ability of “The Beard God” to combine with the rest of the new team.

Basically, the Philadelphia 76ers, before James Harden arrived, were sure of a spot in the Playoffs. After a period without Joel Embiid, the Cameroonian star returned and continued to show MVP performance, thereby helping the home team at Wells Fargo Center have an incredible winning streak to climb back to the top group in the East.

Besides Joel Embiid and James Harden, it is impossible not to mention the name Tyrese Maxey, a young player and one of the factors receiving trust from the team’s board of directors. From the moment James Harden arrived, not Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey was the player who benefited the most from being on the team with the “Beard God”. Parameters such as 17.2 points and 4.3 assists per game before the match against the Cleveland Cavaliers partly showed that.

Even though he officially has a position in the Playoffs, James Harden and his teammates still have a lot of work to do. Whether James Harden’s decision truly brings him success in his career will be answered at the end of the season.

Previously, the best achievement of the Philly football team in recent seasons was appearing in the Eastern Semifinals series. Two regrettable defeats against the Toronto Raptors (2019) and Atlanta Hawks (2021) will be lessons that Coach Doc Rivers and his students need to learn from and overcome.