James Harden has been told to “shave off his beard” by ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith after the Philadelphia 76ers exited the NBA Play-Offs on Sunday, with Harden putting in a miserable performance in what could be his last game for the team.
The Sixers were beaten 112-88 by the Boston Celtics in game seven of the Eastern Conference semi-finals on Sunday. It means that the Celtics will now play the Miami Heat in the Easter Conference Finals beginning later this week. Harden scored just nine points across Game Seven at the TD Garden in Boston. He managed to get six rebounds and seven assists, but had a field goal percentage of just 27.3 percent.
In contrast, Jayson Tatum had one of the best games of the season as he racked up 51 points to guide the Celtics to victory. He had 13 rebounds with five assists and had a field goal percentage of 60.7%, and was supported by Jaylen Brown who contributed with a further 25 points.
After the game, a lot of criticism was aimed the way of the Sixers, and Smith is the latest to have his say on the defeat for Doc Rivers’ side. The renowned analyst believes that the Sixers head coach is likely to lose his job after the defeat, before launching into a rant about Harden’s performance and future in Philadelphia.
“This performance likely cost Doc Rivers his job in Philadelphia,” Smith told ESPN . “I say that, I don’t wish it, I don’t want it, but I think that will happen. It might Daryl Morey (Sixers president) his job, especially if he thinks about giving James Harden a long-term deal.
“James Harden was so awful, so bad, he should actually shave his beard so he can hide his identity. That’s how bad he was. It was really, really bad. I say that in all seriousness, I’m not joking. I worked at Philadelphia for 17 years. It was that bad, I’m telling you right now, it would be difficult for him to walk the streets.
“You don’t do what you saw him do. And you know how bad he had to be because Embiid, the reigning league MVP, was bad and we didn’t even mention him.
“That’s how bad James Harden was. I’m talking about bouncing the ball off your foot, I’m talking about just throwing the ball into the stands, I’m talking about epically bad. We say nothing like that. James Harden, we know that he’s great, he wasn’t great today on the biggest stage.
“He came into the game, four games this series, he's had four field goals or less in the game. It was very bad for James Harden, this is a career-defining bad.”
