James Harden Lights Up NBA Twitter with Vintage Showcase in 76ers' Loss to Celtics

James Harden was listening.

There were questions after his 2021-22 season about whether he had lost a step or whether his prime years were a thing of the past after he didn't appear to be his vintage self following his trade to the Philadelphia 76ers.

Harden sure looked like his old self on Tuesday night, putting up 35 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in a season-opening 126-117 loss to the defending Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics.

Philly fans won't be thrilled with the loss to a hated rival. Nonetheless, seeing Harden play at an extremely high level was a good sign.

And the NBA community noticed:

Heck, even Harden's misses caused a ripple online:

The Sixers will have plenty to work out after Tuesday's tough loss. The defense was poor—which is a nice way of putting it—and allowed Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown (35 points each) to basically score at will.

Joel Embiid had solid counting stats (26 points, 15 rebounds, five assists) but was loose with the ball, turning it over six times, and didn't look particularly effective as a defender.

In the grand scheme of things, Tuesday's loss was one game of 82. The defense should stabilize somewhat as a slew of new players added in the offseason, like P.J. Tucker, Danuel House, De'Anthony Melton and Montrezl Harrell, learn to play together.

Doc Rivers will get a better handle on the rotations. You wouldn't bet on Embiid having a net rating of minus-13 like he had on Tuesday very often.

The bigger story, then, was Harden's performance. He looked like the player we saw with the Houston Rockets and briefly with the Brooklyn Nets when he first arrived. And if the Sixers get that version of Harden going forward, they will be a force to be reckoned with this season.