Why Doc Rivers stated James Harden had a ‘excellent sport’ towards Celtics in Recreation 5

Celtics

Harden solely took eight photographs Tuesday evening. It was sufficient to select the Celtics aside.

Maybe the scariest a part of the Celtics’ brutal loss at TD Backyard Tuesday evening is that for the primary time this sequence, Philadelphia gained and not using a colossal scoring output from James Harden.

He scored 45 in Recreation 1, and 42 in Recreation 4, hitting clutch photographs in each video games that buried the Celtics when it mattered most.

Relying on that sort of efficiency from a participant who missed all however 5 photographs in Video games 2 and three didn’t really feel sustainable.

However Philadelphia is definitely able to repeating what they did of their 115-103 win throughout Recreation 5 of the Jap Convention semifinals.

Harden solely took eight shot makes an attempt from the sector, however he added an environment friendly 17 factors. He additionally dished out 10 assists, and let league MVP Joel Embiid wreak havoc.

Harden carried out like a magician Tuesday evening, 76ers coach Doc Rivers stated. He in contrast Harden’s decision-making to that of a catcher in baseball, controlling the sport by guiding the course of the place the ball flows.

“He known as an ideal sport,” Rivers stated. “He was aggressive early on when he wanted to be aggressive. After which he sort of sat again and performed and acquired everyone else concerned. I assumed he was unbelievable.”

Embiid, who poured in 33 factors and grabbed seven rebounds regardless of enjoying on a sprained LCL, is enjoying at an MVP degree once more. He averaged 33 factors and 10 rebounds in the course of the common season, which implies an identical efficiency isn’t out of the query in Recreation 6.

Tyrese Maxey knocked down 6 of his 12 3-point makes an attempt, chipping in 25 factors. He’s sometimes a 20-point per-game scorer. The Sixers have gained all three video games on this sequence when he scores 14 factors or extra.

The wildcard was Danuel Home, who scored 10 factors off the bench on 5-7 taking pictures in quarter-hour. Rivers stated he wasn’t positive if he was going to play Home in any respect earlier than the sport. However Home’s familiarity with Harden as a former Houston Rockets teammate factored into the choice.

Harden, who has been identified for disappearing from playoff video games prior to now, has stepped up large for the Sixers to date.

“As a group that’s making an attempt to compete for one thing particular, that’s all you may ask for,” Harden stated. “We all know who we’re. Clearly, we now have the MVP on our group and everyone else is simply making an attempt to determine it out. Whether or not that’s me scoring the basketball or that’s me facilitating, or whether or not that’s me transferring the ball.”