James Harden matched his playoff career high with 45 points for the Philadelphia 76ers. Tyrese Maxey came up with a brilliant late-game steal to give Philadelphia the lead over the defending Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics on the road Monday night.
Boston Celtics star forward Jayson Tatum had 39 points. Tatum shot a resounding 11-of-15, including 4-of-4 from three-point range, in the first half. It was part of a larger Celtics effort that saw the defending Eastern Conference champions shoot 72% from the field in the first half. It was the fifth-best shooting performance in a half in NBA Playoff history.
Despite this, Philadelphia was game with NBA MVP favorite Joel Embiid sidelined due to a knee injury.
With Boston up by four and under two minutes remaining, officials took center stage inside TD Garden. That included calling a blocking foul on Celtics guard Marcus Smart after Tyrese Maxey finished in the lane. They went to review on said play, ultimately announcing that Smart did not have legal defensive positioning despite being outside of the restricted area.
The Maxey And-1 gave Philadelphia’s star young guard 24 points while narrowing the Celtics’ lead to just one point. Boston would take a 113-10 lead with 1:14 remaining on an Al Horford hoop.
That’s when the Philadelphia 76ers closed this out in emphatic fashion. With Boston up 113-112 and 32.1 seconds remaining, Tyrese Maxey stole a terrible pass from Celtics guard Malcolm Brogdon and laid it in to give the 76ers a one-point lead.
After Tatum hit two free throws with 26 seconds remaining, it was all about James Harden. The former NBA MVP got the switch he wanted with Al Horford on him. Harden proceeded to nail a 26-foot three-point jumper with 8.1 seconds remaining to give the 76ers a two-point lead.
A Marcus Smart bad pass resulted in yet another Celtics turnover with Tatum fouling Paul Reed, who nailed two free throws to give the 76ers a stunning 119-115 road win over Boston inside TD Garden.
The stars certainly came out to play in this one. In addition to Harden’s 45 points, Tyrese Maxey had 26 of his own. Boston Celtics wings Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined for 62 points of their own with the latter shooting a stellar 8-of-10 from the field.
But in the end, it was the Philadelphia 76ers who stole the show with Embiid sidelined. It’s a stunning end result given that Doc Rivers’ squad was a mere 13-13 since the start of the 2021-22 season with Embiid sidelined.
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James Harden with epic performance as Philadelphia 76ers steal one
We knew that Philadelphia’s margin for error would be small without Embiid on the floor in this one. The team was a near double-digit road underdog against the defending conference champions.
In addition to Harden shooting 17-of-30, De’Anthony Melton went for 17 points. That included 14 in the second quarter to keep this one close. Philadelphia also turned the ball over just six times compared to 16 for the Boston Celtics.
That was the major difference as Boston shot 59% from the field compared to 51% for Philadelphia.
As noted above, it all started with Harden. He has been in this type of atmosphere in the playoffs throughout the veteran’s career. Harden knew what was needed of him. Instead of acting as a distributor, he needed to come up with a big-time scoring effort. That’s exactly what Harden did.
“The guy’s a Hall-of-Famer, and you only hear all of the other stuff about him,” Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers said after Game 1. “We wanted the ball in James’ hands.”
Harden’s experience showed as his 76ers teammates were celebrating following the game. He could be seen waiving them to the locker room, telling his teammates that “it’s just one game.”
But what a heck of a performance from James Harden for one game, potentially changing the narrative surrounding him and NBA Playoff basketball.
As for the Boston Celtics, this loss hurts. The team shot the ball at a clip we’ve rarely seen in postseason basketball history. It was going up against a team without the likely NBA MVP. And it could not come out on top.
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