James Harden Injury: Bearded Fat Man to Return

Overtime Heroics Editorial

176 days ago

Last night the Sixers got steamrolled, molly whopped and curb stomped against the Cavs. As the Scramble God himself told us, “…we gon flush it and move on”. That’s exactly what we’re going to do with the Cavs game, we gon flush it because we have more important things to focus on like the return of the Old Bearded Jolly Fat Man. That’s right, the James Harden injury is over!

Jalen Hurts with the early lead for quote of the year.

“You take you a deuce (💩) you don’t sit there and look at it. You flush it and move on… we gon flush it and move on” #Eagles pic.twitter.com/iRzYEKELVm

— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) September 28, 2021

The Bearded Man

The calendar has finally flipped to December, some would call it the most wonderful time of the year. I’ll be honest I have to agree. No, I’m not talking about Christmas nor am I talking about Santa. I’m talking about a different bearded fat man…well more like skinny fat. James Harden is slated to return to the court on Monday against his former team in Houston. News broke on November 3rd that the Harden Injury would keep him out roughly a month with a tendon strain in his right foot, shoutout Woj!

At the time of the Harden injury, the Sixers were in the midst of a slow start that no one saw coming. At 4-5, news of the Harden injury was adding insult to injury, considering the Phillies were on the wrong side of a no-hitter and poised to blow a 2-1 lead in the World Series.

Those who were paying attention were calling for Doc’s head, most figuratively, and the pessimist hoagie mouths were salivating over the thoughts of a head rolling. This was their time to shine! The Harden injury seems to be a turning point for the Sixers, who have gone 8-5 since. This may not be too impressive on the surface but life isn’t lived on the surface. During this run the Sixers lost Maxey for a month, Embiid for a handful of games and have still elevated themselves.

They currently sit 3rd in the league in Defensive Rating, which is an incredible leap considering the defense the first few weeks was as non-existent as Ben Simmons’ heart and accountability.

Missing Leader

Without Harden in the lineup, the Sixers have looked much different. They have been carried by the terrific guard play of Melton & Milton, lock-down defense from PJ Tucker and an assertive Tobias Harris. De’Anthony Melton meanwhile has been one of the best NBA additions this offseason.

It should probably also mention that Embiid has averaged 34/10/6 during this stretch with a 42 and 59 point game. Ball movement and defense have been the catalyst for the turn around, coincidently these are two things that James Harden does not do well. Hopefully the Beards been paying attention.

Monday night will be a homecoming for James Harden but this isn’t the Beard’s first trip back to Houston since his departure. In his two previous games as a visitor in Houston, Harden is averaging a triple double with 27/11/11 with 2 steals. If I were a betting man, which I am, I would strongly consider a little triple double wager for the Beard.