James Harden Explains Sixers' Struggles vs. Miami Heat After Game 2

The Philadelphia 76ers are off to a rough start in the second-round series against the Miami Heat. After nearly sweeping the Toronto Raptors before dominating in Game 6 during the first round, Philly has found itself in a rut.

On Monday night, the Sixers opened up the Eastern Conference semifinals series down in South Beach. Despite the 76ers getting desirable shots from the field, especially from deep, the shots simply weren’t falling.

While the Miami Heat hit on just 25-percent of their threes in Game 1, the Sixers shot even worse as they could only hit on 17-percent of their deep shots. When the first outing was all said and done, the Sixers picked up a 14-point loss and got off to an 0-1 start in the series.

Going into Game 2, the Sixers were confident in their ability to bounce back. As they liked the opportunities they garnered on the offensive end even without Joel Embiid on the floor during Game 1, the 76ers were confident they would shoot much better than they did on Monday.

The Sixers shot better on Wednesday during Game 2 — but not much better. On 30 attempts from beyond the arc, the Sixers drained just 26-percent of their threes. In the eyes of James Harden, those struggles were once again the key factor to Philadelphia’s failure to come out on top on Wednesday.

“Shot making,” said Harden when asked about what contributed to his team’s struggles. “It’s pretty simple. You fight, you claw, you give yourself chances, but when it comes down to it, you have to make shots, especially on the road against a really good team. If we got enough stops consistently when we needed to, we had numerous of chances. We made a couple of shots which gave us more confidence and put more pressure on them. I feel like we never really put that pressure on them throughout the course of the game.”

As the team’s primary facilitator, Harden felt the Sixers did what they needed to do to help themselves become successful on Wednesday. Unfortunately, their execution was off once again. 

“We still got really good looks,” Harden explained. “We got to the paint and got some really good possessions offensively at times. Eight turnovers — that’s a really good game. You make shots, and it’s a different ball game. They put more pressure on their shots. Their offensive end, they feel the pressure a little bit more, and I don’t feel like we really got to that. And as a result of that, we felt like we had to claw and try to come back the entire game, which is very difficult to win.”

The Sixers fell to 0-2 on Wednesday night as they fell short with a 119-103 loss to the Heat. Now, the series heads to Philly for the first time. When Game 3 picks up on Friday night, the Sixers hope to get more from their team on the offensive end to avoid falling into a 0-3 hole.

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