The first game of the 2021 playoffs for the 76ers is doomed to be a disaster. Joel Embiid fouled very early, “Referee, you are so bad!” The transitional defense looked as bad as the whole season. Please note that this is only the first half, but the 76ers seem to lack a place in the team, they will face all the weakest opponents in the playoffs.

Their salvation grace is Tobias Harris (Tobias Harris). In a season full of Harris winning moments, Sunday’s first half was the biggest so far-28 points. In the entire (fuller) arena behind him, he did for this playoff game. Everything has been fully demonstrated. .

Danny Green told reporters after winning on Sunday: “He did what he has been doing, man. He is carrying a heavy load, and he is aggressive towards us.” “He must be particularly aggressive, but this is what What he has done for us throughout the year… meet the challenge, rebound for us, do little things. Let us float when Joel is in trouble.”

These little things are not what I used to support Harris’s exciting first-half performance. Even the most casual basketball fan can see that he is just using the scorer to cook for the Wizards, offending others’ offenses from time to time on Sunday afternoon.

Opposite Harris is Rui Hachimura, a talented young forward whose skills are mainly focused on the offensive end. Entering the series, Philadelphia may force a diversion instead of hunting down Hachimura, which is reasonable, especially since he has at least a big man to throw at Harris. The mismatch in the starting lineups from Russell Westbrook to Raul Neto is enough for the 76ers to spend their money looking for Harris cross games.

Before and after Embiid was on the bench, the treatment of fans was a mixture of the two. Harris undoubtedly scored his points in the game against small players-it was cruel to watch Neto try to compete with him in the middle-and was rude to Hachimura, no matter where he was on the court. Wherever he attacked, he stayed in the dust. Hachimura is not a real little guy, but Harris showed him the difference between the senior level and the young level. The difference is not necessarily in the level of resilience, but in the actual use of your body.

With the help of his teammates’ screens, Harris was able to keep Hachimura where he wanted most of the game, with only one hip or shoulder tilted to avoid slipping and opening the shooting window. These features are not things that look easy on the rim, but to find these inches of space, power and skill need to be underestimated. Over time, Harris mastered this discovery process:

To be sure, the degree of his dominance in this game is surprising, but in Harris’ tricks this season, nothing is novel or unique. In the past few seasons, he has performed more, but he has never been as efficient as he was in Philadelphia this year.

Harris said on Sunday night: “I know who I am, I know my game, and I know my abilities.” “I know one thing I bring to this team day and night, and that is the person who strives to win. . This is what I mean by wearing a hat every night, I think it makes it clearer for me to enter the game these games, and focus on doing everything the team needs to win… You have spent such a night, and with The work progressed and fell into that rhythm.

“I want to say that in the past two or three months I have been preparing for this kind of moment, preparing for myself. I also want to tell the team, like this is the key, this is the playoffs. I have been there, I There are only X times in his career, but I have got something I want to bring to me from every playoff game. For our group, this is an opportunity to really maintain a mental state in the highs and lows of the game. Really lock in what is currently happening. This is just the information I continue to tell the team, and I think this will help us move forward.”

For many years, it has not been easy for him to convert regular season production into playoff results. When Ben Simmons fell due to injury last season, people expected Harris to get a raise in the absence of the Celtics. If anything, he would be worse-Harris’ scoring dropped, his efficiency decreased, and the 76ers were unceremoniously eliminated from the playoffs by an annoying opponent. From that moment on, Harris’ promotion was an important reason why this team had a chance to break into the championship this year. Embiid’s climb alone is not enough, he seems to realize it.

To prepare for this moment, Harris has been spending more time in the gym with Philadelphia’s short-time players. Paul Reed and Rayjon Tucker, whom Harris calls “partners,” are always looking for any additional sales representatives and practice everything they can get so they can play themselves one day NBA role. In Harris, they found a willing partner, someone who wanted to escape the spotlight, so that when his call was dialed, he was ready. In addition to the work that Harris conducts in Philadelphia every night, the intensity of this practice facility helps maintain Harris’ acumen, allowing him to rise when they need him.

Harris said: “In this case, we just work before and after one-on-one practice.” “Can compete with them. Both of them are guys who like to exercise. These guys are like we have been working hard. I have been working hard as a sparring partner, and you know we have a lot of trash when we play this kind of games, but this is really where I have been trying to get better in these aspects-low, late And the smaller guy—that’s just one of the things I’ve been doing during that time.”

Take a closer look at what this man did to poor Neto. Despicable things:

For Harris, perhaps the humility of the past is necessary to become this version of himself. Putting Doc Rivers in his corner undoubtedly helped him, and this man deceived the two best years of Harris’s career from him. Harris has always been eager to lead from the front, and because the team continues to scatter around him, he may be the most impressive and committed leader last season. This year, he has a resume and has the respect that motivates others to follow him.

In these playoffs, he won’t score 37 points per night, and it’s extremely unlikely that he will steal the mantle of the most important player from Joel Embiid, Joel Embiid. ) Went with Philadelphia, and Harris began to withdraw from the game. But his partnership with the big guys has not received the attention it deserves, perhaps because many people look at the team from the perspective of the partnership between Embiid and Ben Simmons. Harris didn’t fantasize about who was in Philadelphia, but he knew that when that guy got off the ground, it was time to catch him.

“Honestly, when he [got in foul trouble], When Joel fell down due to injury, I looked like we were all year long. You know, at that time I needed to do something for our team to win games,” Harris said on Sunday. “He made three free throws, which is the same mentality as mine,’Well, we have to figure things out. . “And there is an opportunity for me to become more aggressive, find my position and get the shots I want… But the biggest thing is that we have enough mental focus to really show and defend in the second half, and try to do it. We tried our best to stop our offense. We found a good rhythm. We knew this was our blueprint for success and we had to bring more in the second game.”

Harris knows who he is and what he can do. There was great power there, and it was this awareness that allowed Philadelphia to survive long enough for the cavalry to reach it.

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