James Harden and Joel Embiid haven’t been teammates for long. But Harden’s influence is already rubbing off on his new teammate, albeit to a limited extent.
One of Harden’s famed shots is the stepback three. It’s a shot he’s mastered over the years. Video of a Philadelphia 76ers practice showed Harden and Embiid working on the shot.
Harden teaching Embiid his famous stepback 😅 pic.twitter.com/ywS6pHuMh9
— SPORTSRADIO 94WIP (@SportsRadioWIP) February 15, 2022
Harden was sidelined for Tuesday night’s game between the 76ers and Boston Celtics. With the master of the stepback three on the bench, Embiid decided to give his newly discovered shot some in-game action.
As far as how the shot went? Let’s just say that Embiid has to work to do to reach Harden’s level.
one practice with James Harden later pic.twitter.com/wBWuBfgzte
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) February 16, 2022
Yikes.
Embiid tried to do the Harden stepback 3…..he traveled.
— Austin Krell (@NBAKrell) February 16, 2022
Embiid double travel stepback nd got blocked 😂😂😂😂😭😭😭😭😂😂😂😂😂
— 모하메드 اشراف (@asyrafkamsani) February 16, 2022
Indeed, he traveled and got the shot blocked. That’s a rare double, especially on three-point shots — from seven-footers. It certainly could have gone better. We’re not sure that it could have gone much worse.
On the positive side, NBA fans watching the game provided plenty of laughs over the stepback three attempt.
https://twitter.com/SpikeEskin/status/1493762088782778368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1493762088782778368%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fthecomeback.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost-new.php
Joel Embiid really just tried to do the Harden stepback and it went just about as horribly as it could have lol.
— Jay King (@ByJayKing) February 16, 2022
https://twitter.com/SplashyMcNasty/status/1493772786082455552
Embiid just tried the Harden stepback and got called for a travel
Harden’s gotta get back in the lab with him
— 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒆 🌩 (@Three_Cone) February 16, 2022
Joel embiid out here doing the electric slide version of harden's stepback after 1 day of practice 😂😂😂 https://t.co/2ATj2UxYPL
— Dani 💙♍ (@DaniBlue917) February 16, 2022
I can't believe Embiid tried the Harden stepback from practice, he foolin 😂
— UNO Bearding (@Ozuna926) February 16, 2022
On the other hand, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Embiid will only perfect the stepback three if he keeps trying it.
#BOSvsPHI I gotta say, embiid going for that stepback lmao.. absolutely loved it not even mad about it, he tried 🤣👌
— Vic // °MONO° (@PrinceMonito) February 16, 2022
And while there’s never a good time to fail on a shot attempt, this was about the best time imaginable. Philadelphia was trailing Boston 66-42 at the time of the shot, was down 69-42 at halftime and lost the game 135-87. In a way, making the shot there would have been a complete waste.
