The Boston Celtics are an outlying James Harden playoff efficiency from main the Philadelphia 76ers 3-0 within the Eastern Conference semifinals. Two video games faraway from his 45 factors stealing Game 1, the one-time MVP couldn’t final a half in his dwelling area earlier than the City of Brotherly Love showered him with boos.
In between, Sixers star Joel Embiid has returned on a sprained proper knee, obtained the NBA’s regular-season MVP award and performed his approach nearer to dominant kind, just for his teammates to desert him.
Embiid produced 30 factors, 13 rebounds, 4 blocks and three assists in Friday’s 114-102 loss, however essentially the most scary quantity is the 39 minutes he placed on his still-recovering ligament, together with all the third quarter and the house stretch of a recreation Boston’s Jayson Tatum put to mattress with two minutes remaining.
The Celtics lead the collection, 2-1. Embiid has till 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday to recuperate for Game 4.
Harden, Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris mixed to shoot 10 for 36 (27.8%) in Friday’s loss, and their collective protection was no higher. Harris was roasted final, as Tatum scored seven of his 27 factors on three straight isolation possessions to push Boston’s result in double digits within the waning minutes. The Celtics by no means trailed after Marcus Smart’s 3-pointer gave them a 38-36 lead with 8:34 left within the second quarter.
This after Philadelphia’s second-, third- and fourth-best gamers shot a mixed 15 of 40 (37.5%) in Wednesday’s blowout Game 2 loss. The Sixers trailed for the ultimate 43:09 of that one. They have led in solely 4 minutes over the past two video games and 15 of the 144 minutes on this collection. This downside wants fixing.
“Players have to point out up,” mentioned Embiid. “I’ve gotta present up. Everybody is aware of their function. They need to do their job. Obviously, you can also make any changes you need, but when gamers do not execute and present up and make photographs, that is on us. I’ve gotta be higher. We’ve all gotta be higher. We simply have not been adequate.”
Story continues
The Celtics really feel superb serving to off P.J. Tucker, Jalen McDaniels and most different fifth males however De’Anthony Melton in Philadelphia’s finest lineups to double Embiid on each contact. When Al Horford was not Boston’s first line of protection, Grant Williams hounded the MVP to the bloody finish. Robert Williams III lurks off non-shooting threats to disrupt Embiid’s paint touches, and the Celtics’ array of guard and wing defenders swipe at his each dribble within the excessive publish. It could be hell to pay for a more healthy Embiid, because it has been in matchups previous, when Boston eradicated him in not more than 5 playoff video games in two earlier conferences.
It has not helped the Sixers that Jaylen Brown has manhandled Harden since assuming the defensive project in Game 2, a lot in order that Harden repeatedly handed on alternatives to assault the basket on Friday. His discomfort was so obvious that the group booed every passive resolution from the second quarter on. Harden has made 3 of 15 makes an attempt from contained in the arc over the previous two video games, harking back to the struggles he has skilled attempting to get to the rim since getting back from an Achilles damage on the finish of March, together with his 9-for-34 effort from 2-point vary in an opening-round sweep of the Brooklyn Nets.
“We understand how dominant Embiid will be,” mentioned Brown, who added 23 factors, “and we all know, if these different guys get going, how lethal the Sixers will be, so we simply finally needed to be higher on protection and make it arduous for everyone. I believe our stress and depth the final two video games has finished that. They scored 102 factors tonight, and after we hold a workforce in that vary, we will be robust to beat.”
The additional we get from Harden’s 45 factors on 9 days relaxation in Game 1, the nearer this collection feels to over — except he turns again the clock and the remainder of Embiid’s supporting forged solves Boston’s protection. When Harden has not been a solo act on this collection, he has appeared like he has reservations elsewhere subsequent week.
Philadelphia 76ers star and newly minted NBA MVP Joel Embiid is surrounded by 4 Boston Celtics through the second half of Game 3 within the Eastern Conference semifinals. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
When requested about Harden, Sixers coach Doc Rivers mentioned, “There had been a few occasions I assumed we had the lane. I assumed we had been attempting to snake dribble extra than simply go straight down and make performs. That’s one thing we talked about, moving into the paint with drive and tempo … and I simply did not assume we did that.”
Asked about Maxey, Rivers added, “One time Jalen had it on the high and he simply stood within the nook. I requested him, ‘If that was Kobe Bryant, do you assume he’ll stand there? No he’ll come get the ball.'”
And requested about Embiid, Rivers completed, “As a lot as he was concerned, there have been stretches the place he did not contact the ball, and there have been stretches the place he did not contact it the place I assumed he ought to have.”
At some level, the coach has to surprise who will meet the second when the stress intensifies.
“We at all times speak about it,” mentioned Embiid, who is 2 weeks right into a 4-6-week damage. “I’ve gotta make the correct performs, and I believe I’m doing it, however I can not shoot it for them, so we have all gotta be on the identical web page. For us to win, I’ve mentioned it the entire season, we have now to be virtually excellent for us to win. We do not have quite a lot of margins for error. Everybody has to point out up and do their job, and that begins with me. I’ve gotta do higher.”
Since Embiid’s Game 2 return, the Celtics have scored 123 factors per 100 possessions and allowed 99, each of which might have led the league through the common season by a large margin. As loopy because it appears, the unfold offense Harden ran in Embiid’s absence felt harder for Boston to navigate than the clogged offense they’ve operated since. Whether or not Embiid’s damage is the deciding issue might be debated.
The 7-footer has a historical past of fading by the fourth quarter within the playoffs, and he was gassed by the top of the third on Friday. The Sixers are actually -31 in Embiid’s 66 minutes and -11 of their 78 minutes with out him.
Something should give, and Philadelphia can not depend on it to be Boston. The Celtics have tried 96 3-pointers within the final two video games, largely as a result of Embiid’s paint presence leaves shooters open every time Boston’s many succesful ball-handlers penetrate, they usually have made 36 of them (37.5%). Clean appears to be like open clear paths to the basket, and that was finally the case in Game 3. Tatum and Brown each challenged Embiid on the rim and succeeded for 2 layups plus a foul within the opening minutes of the second half.
“We really feel like we are able to get a superb shot each time down the courtroom,” mentioned Tatum.
In the midst of a taking pictures hunch, Horford laughed within the face of a reporter who questioned his “elite” taking pictures earlier within the day, after which related on 5 of his seven long-distance makes an attempt in Game 3. That is their beginning middle, and the Sixers haven’t any reply if he will get sizzling. The Celtics are creating 33.6 open or wide-open 3s per recreation in these playoffs, per the NBA’s monitoring knowledge, and taking pictures 41.4% on them.
Rob Williams is the one member of Boston’s eight-man playoff rotation that doesn’t have the inexperienced mild from vary. The different seven all need to be revered, and right here is the factor: Tatum and Brown have made solely 6 of 24 makes an attempt on the arc prior to now two video games, and people floodgates will open. Tatum scored simply seven factors on 1-for-7 taking pictures within the Game 2 blowout win, and 6 Celtics scored in double figures on Friday. Those waves is not going to cease crashing from Derrick White, Malcolm Brogdon and Marcus Smart, both.
“We do not have quite a lot of time down 2-1,” mentioned Embiid. “It’s simple to sit down right here and be like, ‘Oh, yeah, it is superb,’ however we have gotta determine it out. You cannot go down 3-1. You’ve gotta discover a option to win Game 4.”
For all the joy Embiid’s teammates felt within the convention room the place he was named MVP earlier this week, the Sixers have carried none of it to the courtroom. Another second-round playoff exit and one other summer time of personnel choices await if they don’t assist their hobbled chief come Sunday afternoon.
