SI:AM | Has James Harden’s Philly Debut Unlocked a New Star?
Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. Don’t worry, I’m not spending today’s newsletter getting sad about baseball again.
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The honeymoon isn’t over yet
Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports
Sixers fans started salivating over the acquisition of James Harden before the trade from the Nets was even completed. Finally, three weeks after the deal was finalized, Harden made his debut in Philadelphia last night and it was everything fans had been dreaming of.
Harden had 26 points, nine rebounds and nine assists in Philly’s easy win over the Knicks. (Watch his highlight reel here.) The numbers aren’t eye-popping, but his performance was exactly what the Sixers need from him if they’re going to be a real title contender. When he wasn’t pulling up from three or driving strong to the rim, he drew the attention of the defense and kept his eyes up to find open teammates. He looked like a cohesive part of the team despite it being only his third game in his new jersey, which is especially interesting considering how his tenure in Brooklyn ended.
The Sixers have won all three games that Harden has played—a 31-point victory over the Timberwolves on Friday and wins against the Knicks on Sunday and yesterday. Harden has been great in that stretch, as has Joel Embiid. Perhaps most importantly, though, so has Tyrese Maxey.
After coming off the bench as a rookie last season, Maxey is having a breakout season as a starter. He’s averaging 17.3 points and 4.5 assists per game while shooting 40.8% from three. He was Philly’s third-leading scorer (behind Embiid and Tobias Harris) before Harden’s arrival. In the three games with Harden, he’s averaging 24.7 points per game. Over that same stretch, Harden, Embiid and Maxey are averaging a combined 84.7 points.
That stat comes from the excellent account StatMuse, which refers to the trio as “the Sixers’ new Big 3.” Philly’s new core seems more like a Big Two-and-a-Half to me. I think it’s awfully premature to lump Harden-Embiid-Maxey in with Harden-Durant-Irving and Allen-Pierce-Garnett. But Maxey (and Harris) could be the key to the Sixers’ title aspirations. Harden and Embiid are capable of taking over games but a great team needs contributions from its secondary pieces.
“We need him to be aggressive, like, a lot of times in the game,” Harden said of Maxey last night. “I know it’s difficult because obviously myself and Jo got the ball. But when he has an opportunity, he needs to be aggressive, and we need that. In that second half, he played like we all need him to play and he knows how to play.”
The best of Sports Illustrated
Donald Miralle/Sports Illustrated
In her first interview since December, trans Penn swimmer Lia Thomas shares her story:
“I’m a woman, just like anybody else on the team. I’ve always viewed myself as just a swimmer. It’s what I’ve done for so long; it’s what I love.”
Jason Jordan profiled Seventh Woods, who is finding normalcy at Morgan State after a viral mixtape made him a household name at 14. … The Lakers are toast this year, and, Chris Mannix writes, the future looks even more grim. … Jonathan Wilson examines the impact that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had on the Premier League.
Around the Sports World
Stanford women’s soccer goalie Katie Meyer has died at 22. … EA Sports is removing the Russian national team and Russian clubs from FIFA 22. … Mike Trout released a statement on the MLB labor negotiations. … Mike Krzyzewski has reportedly asked that Duke be placed in the Midwest region so that he can coach in his hometown of Chicago in his final NCAA tournament.
The top 5...
… game-winning shots from last night in basketball:
5. JD Notae’s tie-breaking free throw with 8.6 seconds left to put the Arkansas men ahead of LSU
4. Bucks’ Jrue Holiday drives strong to the hoop for the go-ahead layup against the Heat
3. Milos Stajcic hits the three with .6 seconds left as Campbell survives against Presbyterian in the Big South men’s tournament
2. Ron Harper Jr.’s contested three lifts Rutgers over Indiana in Bloomington
1. Last-place Charleston Southern scores a major upset over UNC Asheville in the Big South tourney on Taje’ Kelly’s tip-in
SIQ
This might be an easy one, but there’s a fun story behind it so I’ll ask it anyway. On this day in 1983, an NFL quarterback underwent surgery on his injured elbow and was admitted to the hospital with a pseudonym to protect his privacy. Years later, a quarterback whose real name was the same as the older player’s fake name went on to have success in the NFL. Can you name both players?
Check tomorrow's newsletter for the answer.
Yesterday’s SIQ: Who did Darryl Strawberry try to fight at Mets spring training on March 2, 1989?
Answer: Keith Hernandez. Strawberry (who wore No. 18) was supposed to stand next to Hernandez (No. 17) in the team photo. Strawberry responded by saying, “I’d rather sit next to my real friends,” the New York Daily News reported. Hernandez called Strawberry a “baby” and the two rushed to confront each other. Teammates pulled the pair apart as Strawberry shouted at Hernandez, “I’ve been tired of you for years.”
Though nobody landed a punch, the messy scene was captured by still photographers and video crews and chronicled by the Mets’ corps of beat writers, who had gathered around to document what was supposed to be a routine spring-training ritual. Instead, they captured footage of the brawl.
From the Vault: March 3, 1980
Everyone knows the story of the Miracle on Ice team, so that isn’t worth rehashing here. Instead, I want to talk about the publisher’s letter inside this issue. Written by Kelso F. Sutton (great name), it describes the challenges SI’s crew of photographers encountered while shooting the 1980 Winter Olympics on film cameras.
Six photographers worked the games for SI, bringing with them “more than a ton and a half of equipment, worth in the neighborhood of $175,000” (more than $620,000 today). They brought special winterized cameras from Japan that had been made without lubricants that might freeze. They had to warm up their film enough while loading it that it would bend without snapping. They needed to find ways to keep their camera batteries from dying in the cold, sometimes by leaving the battery in their pocket, attached to a wire leading out to the camera. It was the remote-controlled cameras that required the most creativity to operate. Sutton wrote that the shooters “sometimes taped hand-warmers to them, or rigged them up in their carrying cases with the hand-warmers taped inside the cases.”
The iconic image on the cover was captured by Heinz Kluetmeier, who, while covering downhill skiing earlier in the Games, “had a nasty 150-yard fall, but he wrapped his strained knee with duct tape and carried on.” Duct tape! No word on whether he got a real knee brace in time for the hockey game.
Check out more of SI's archives and historic images at vault.si.com.
