James Harden on Monday scored 45 points as the Philadelphia 76ers stunned the Boston Celtics in the NBA playoffs, before Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets took a commanding 2-0 series lead over the Phoenix Suns.
In a pulsating Eastern Conference duel in Boston, Harden produced a vintage performance — including a pivotal go-ahead three-pointer with 8.4 seconds remaining — to leave the TD Garden in stunned silence as the Sixers snatched a 119-115 Game 1 victory.
The Sixers’ win was achieved without their best player, injured talisman Joel Embiid, who watched from the bench after failing to recover from a knee injury.
Photo: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY
“We’re just a resilient team,” Harden said. “Even without Joel, we’ve got the confidence to come here and win games. We’ve been doing it all year long, that’s a good one for us.”
Harden’s points haul came from 17-of-30 shooting and included seven three-pointers, including one in the final moments of the fourth quarter.
“He was awesome,” Sixers coach Doc Rivers said. “Kept his cool, knew when to attack, knew when to give it up.”
Photo: AFP
With Boston at a slender 115-114 advantage and the clock running down in the fourth, Harden advanced up the court and took his time before calmly sinking a sublime three-pointer from 25 feet to give Philadelphia a 117-115 lead with just seconds remaining.
Rivers said Harden’s ice-cool three-pointer at the death was a rebuttal to critics who have long accused the 33-year-old former NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) of folding under pressure.
“I thought he had just the perfect mindset tonight,” Rivers said. “I’m so happy for him because it just tells you what he can do on a given night. It’s amazing — the guy’s a Hall-of-Famer and all you hear is the other stuff about him. He’s fantastic.”
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is today in Boston.
In Monday’s other playoff game, Denver’s reigning two-time NBA MVP Jokic finished with 39 points as the Nuggets staged a fourth-quarter rally to eclipse the Phoenix Suns 97-87 and take a 2-0 series lead.
Devin Booker finished with 35 points for Phoenix, while Kevin Durant added 24, but the Suns were unable to respond as Denver pulled away to outscore the visitors 27-14 in the fourth quarter.
Jokic’s 39-point haul included 26 after half-time as the Nuggets took control of a low-scoring contest that saw Phoenix lead by eight points in the third quarter.
The victory came as Jokic prepared to discover yesterday whether he had won the NBA’s regular season MVP award for a third straight year.
Nuggets coach Michael Malone said Jokic had delivered an MVP-caliber performance to drag Denver over the line.
“Nikola’s an MVP for a reason. He can take over a game. He can beat you in a lot of ways. I love an aggressive Nikola Jokic,” Malone said.
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