Philadelphia 76ers: 3 big overreactions from an opening night loss

James Harden looks really, really good

Hey, if you were expecting everything to be all negative, I’m not really sure what I have for you. But there was some positive to come out of the Philadelphia 76ers’ loss. And it was the fact that James Harden looked really, really good.

It’s interesting because through like the first 3-4 minutes, it was hard to notice Harden on the court. But once the Sixers got comfortable offensively, it was hard not to take notice of Harden. He was slimmer, quicker, and more assertive.

Harden finished with a team-high 35 points on 9-14 shooting from the field to go along with eight rebounds and seven assists. Even though the Sixers lost, Harden’s performance is something that they can hang their hat on heading into the rest of the season.

If this is the Harden that the Sixers are going to get, this is a team that can absolutely compete in the Eastern Conference. It was extremely encouraging to see Harden playing back at this level after the underwhelming postseason performance that he had just a few months ago.