James Harden replicated the best performance of his career in a playoffs on Monday – he equaled the 45 points scored against the Golden State Warriors in 2015 -, leading the Philadelphia 76ers to a 115-119 victory, without Joel Embiid, at the TD Garden in Boston against the Celtics, in the first game of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Despite the loss of Embiid, the MVP favorite and absent for the second consecutive game due to a right knee injury suffered in the series against the Brooklyn Nets, the 76ers managed to defeat the Celtics and made it 1-0. The Boston team will have the opportunity to tie the series this Wednesday, again at home.
‘La Barba’ finished the game with 17 of 30 shooting from the field, seven triples and six assists, supported by 26 points from Tyrese Maxey, who also had four steals. Harden’s great performance overshadowed that of Jayson Tatum, who scored 39 points, 26 of them in the first half, with 11 rebounds. Jaylen Brown had 23 points and Brogdon, the sixth man of the year, had 20 coming off the bench.
In a very even match, Harden made the difference and hit a near decisive treble with 8.4 seconds to go. Then the Celtics failed to score in their last action and a Tatum foul on Paul Reed determined the final 115-119 of the 76ers.
The Denver Nuggets, meanwhile, beat the Phoenix Suns 97-87 at home and took a 2-0 lead in the NBA Western Conference semifinals, with the series now moving to Phoenix with Devin Booker. and Kevin Durant against the ropes.
Michael Malone’s team, the best in the regular season in the West, added a momentous victory to trigger the pressure on the Suns, forced to react at home and with the doubt of Chris Paul, who withdrew in the third period for a pubic problem.
Nikola Jokic was in charge of leading the victory for the Nuggets with 39 points and 16 rebounds. In addition, he sealed a tremendous double double and was supported by Kentavious Caldwell Pope (14 points and four of four in triples). Devin Booker was the best for Phoenix, with 35 points, five rebounds and six assists, while Kevin Durant finished with 24 points and eight rebounds, but a modest 2 of 12 from three-point range.
Games 3 and 4 will be played on Friday and Sunday, respectively, in Phoenix, with Monty Williams’ team no longer having a margin for error to avoid elimination.
