James Harden claims he is feeling no pressure to perform well in the playoffs with the Philadelphia 76ers.
“Pressure, no. I feel good,” Harden said after Thursday’s practice at the team’s facility here with a smile. “I’m ready to hoop. There’s nothing to it.”
Joel Embiid said his co-star just needs to be himself, and let everything else take care of itself.
“I tell him to be himself. He’s been doing a great job of being the playmaker but we need him to be aggressive and really score the ball, especially against Toronto,” Embiid said. “With the way they guard me, we’re going to need everybody. We’re going to need Tyrese to be aggressive with all the attention that’s going to be on me and James, Tyrese, Tobias, all the other guys, they have to make plays. He just has to be himself, and not worry about people talking about pressure. Whatever happened in the past, you look back at what he’s accomplished and what he’s done, he had to play against a dynasty. It would have been hard for anybody to beat those Golden State teams, so bad timing. But I’m sure it’s going to be fine.”
Harden also has insisted he is entering the playoffs healthy.
“It’s good,” Harden said. “I’ve actually been doing some sprints and some hamstring work this week, so it’s a really good week to prepare myself for this first round.”
