Philadelphia 76ers talisman James Harden will be going up against the Brooklyn Nets for the first time. It will be the first time the Beard will go up against Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant. Therefore former NBA star ad analyst Kendrick Perkins shared his thoughts on the high voltage clash on ESPN’s “NBA Today.”
Perkins feels that Kyrie and Kevin Durant will take the match up against James harden very personally and vice versa. He said, “KD (Kevin Durant) and Kyrie (Irving of the Brooklyn Nets) is gonna take this matchup personal towards James Harden, and vice versa. James Harden (of the Philadelphia 76ers) is gonna wanna go at KD and Kyrie.”
When asked about the game Kyrie Irving felt that it will be just like any other regular game for him but as players, they want to win every match. “It’s never too personal, but we understand as competitors we wanna win the game,” said Irving,
This is the first time Philly will play against the Nets since the deadline day big trade. The deal saw James Harden join the Sixers with Ben Simmons, Andre Drummond and others go the other way to join Kyrie and Kevin Durant. But in this clash former Sixers star Ben Simmons will not be available to face his former team whereas Harden will look to make the most of that opportunity as he will get Joel Embiid’s support.
Harden has averaged 24.6 points, 12.4 assists and 7.6 rebounds in five games for Philadelphia. He has been the best support for Embiid who has been sensational this season averaging 29.7 points, 11.2 boards and 4.3 assists and the big man is having an MVP season.
In their last game against the Chicago Bulls Embiid scored 43 points whereas Harden came in his support with 16 points, 14 points and eight rebounds. They seem to be gelling really well and will be a handful for the Brooklyn Nets. The Sixers have been propelled to the third position in the Eastern Conference, they are just behind the Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks. On the other hand, Brooklyn Nets have dropped down to the eighth position majorly due to their inconsistent form.
It will be very interesting to see how things turn out when these two great teams meet with several players who know each others game inside out.
