James Harden Makes 76ers History in Monday’s Win vs. Pacers

James Harden had another historic accomplishment in the 76ers' Monday night win over the Pacers.

Once again, James Harden’s playmaking shined bright in the Philadelphia 76ers’ win over the Indiana Pacers on Monday night.

Coming off of his season-best scoring night with the Sixers, dropping nearly 40 points against the Milwaukee Bucks, Harden jumped back into his role as the lead distributor in Indiana.

In the process, the star guard made franchise history with another phenomenal passing performance.

Through the first quarter of action, Harden accounted for three assists in eight minutes. As he checked in for the entire second quarter, the offensive star really turned it up a notch as he produced seven more assists, totaling ten before the end of the first half.

Coming out in the third quarter, Harden didn’t slow down. In his next seven minutes on the court, he dished out six more assists. By having 16 assists at the end of the third quarter, The Beard surpassed 15 assists in a single game for the fourth time this season.

At that point, Harden was chasing his career-high, which he achieved back in December. While he was close, Harden came up just short of tying it. By the end of the night, Harden had 20 assists against the Pacers. With that accomplishment, he became the first player in franchise history with multiple 20-assist games in a season.

James Harden dished out 20 dimes tonight 🤯

Here's ALL 20 of his assists in from the @sixers win in Indy! pic.twitter.com/0BEtbDwNIk

— NBA (@NBA) March 7, 2023

He’s the first player with more than one 20-assist games in one season since Harden’s former teammate Russell Westbrook accomplished that feat during the 2020-2021 season when he was with the Washington Wizards.

Going into Monday night’s game, Harden led the NBA in assists per game with 10.8. With another huge performance in the playmaking department, that clearly remains the case. Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton trails Harden with 10.3 assists per game. 

While Haliburton dimed up the Sixers’ defense with 16 assists of his own, Harden had the edge as he accounted for 54 percent of Philadelphia’s assists and had just eight fewer assists than Indiana’s entire team during the 147-143 Sixers win. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.