James Harden of the Philadelphia 76ers and Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics during Monday’s game Charles Krupa (AP)
There was less than a minute left. The Celtics were ahead on the scoreboard and looking to extend their lead against the 76ers. In front of the Philadelphians’ rocky defense, the Bostonians moved the ball in an attempt to penetrate and pass to another teammate. Until Malcolm Brogdon made a mistake giving Tyrese Maxey a gift that the party has changed. The 76ers have taken the lead and bettered the defining moment of an even game in which James Harden was huge with 45 points in the game and a crucial three-pointer by 8 seconds. Philadelphia won the first game of the eastern semifinals (115-119) despite their other star, Joel Embiid, being injured on the bench.
The 76ers quickly defeated the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of the playoffs (4-0) and remain unbeaten in the postseason as of this Monday. The semifinals, in which they take on the Celtics, looks like the early Eastern Conference finals (with the permission of Jimmy Butler’s surprise Miami Heat). But while the Celtics traveled with their entire team and played the first home game, the Philadelphians came without Joel Embiid as a guest.
Embiid wasn’t just any victim. The Philadelphia 76ers center, who said a few years ago he learned to shoot with a YouTube tutorial, was the regular-season topscorer with 33.1 points per game. The Yaoundé, Cameroon-born player has finished as the top scorer for the second consecutive year, a level not achieved by a center since Bob McAdoo nearly 50 years ago.
In Embiid’s absence, the streaks corresponded to James Harden, who led his team to victory with 45 points, his playoff scoring record and 6 assists. He was well accompanied by Tyrese Maxey who added 26 points. The outside men took care of adding while the insiders bare their teeth in defense. Paul Reed, Embiid’s backup, is down on 10 points but has clinched 13 rebounds and stopped the Celtics under the hoops.
His standout man on the Boston team was once again Jayson Tatum with 39 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists, with a streak of 14 of 25 shots from the field. Jaylen Brown has added 23 points and Malcolm Brogdon 20, although he will be remembered more for the gift ball at a key moment. The 2022 NBA runner-up isn’t showing his best side in the playoffs. They’ve already suffered a lot to eliminate the Atlanta Hawks.
The game was almost even from start to finish. The biggest advantages came in the first quarter, where the Celtics finished 38-31 in their favor. The 76ers have closed the gap and are 66-63 at halftime in favor of the locals. In the third quarter the score was perfectly even and they went into the final quarter with a tie at 87. In this phase, the alternatives followed up to the gift from Brogdon and the decisive three-pointer from Harden. After Philadelphia’s victory (115:119), the second game of the semifinals will be played again in Boston this Wednesday.
In the other East semifinal on Sunday, the Miami Heat defeated the Knicks in New York (101-108), again with Jimmy Butler as the team’s top scorer. After surprisingly defeating Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Milwaukee Bucks, the Miami players begin to dream of the Eastern Conference Finals.
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