James Harden, Sixers See Mental Improvement With Another Comeback

The Sixers are proving that no lead is safe against them this season.

Being with the Philadelphia 76ers for his entire career, Joel Embiid has seen his team struggle through games when times get tough. And although James Harden spent just half a season with the Sixers last year, he’s seen a dramatic improvement during the 2022-2023 stretch.

Just last year, several Sixers noted that a lack of mental toughness down the stretch of the playoffs was a primary reason why the Sixers couldn’t make it out of the second round.

Although it’s never an ideal scenario to be down double digits, the Sixers have proven many times this year that no lead is safe for the other team.

“We've been down by 20 in a couple of games since the All-Star break, and it shows you that we got the right guys mentally,” Embiid said after Friday’s game.

From the tip-off up until the final seconds of Friday’s game between the Sixers and the Portland Trail Blazers, Philadelphia trailed. In the first half, the Sixers were down as many as 21 points. In the fourth quarter, they trailed by 14 points.

Despite playing catch-up all night long, the Sixers flipped the lead with one second left to go. With an unsuccessful final shot from Portland, the Sixers snagged another comeback victory, which once again proved to the Sixers’ stars that this isn’t the same 76ers of the past.

“We don’t quit,” said Harden. “We don’t give up. Obviously, we don’t want to get down 20, but find ways to continue to stay in the game. At the end of the day, all you can do is give ourselves a chance, and we did that tonight, and it worked in our favor.”

“Guys are staying together,” Embiid added. “We’re mentally tough. You know, a lot a lot of times in the past. probably down 20, guys would probably be like, ‘Game’s over, let's move on to the next one.’ But we keep going, and we keep finding ways offensively and defensively.” 

While Embiid noticed that the Sixers surely have to get better and need to prevent falling into such deep deficits when they do, the team has proven that they can’t be counted out and have the ability to will their way to a win on any given night.

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