Despite his watered-down start, Tatum was quick to lead the Celtics
A triple from Harden settled a match that came to be tied
With a triple in overtime with 19 seconds to go, James Hardenwho shone with 42 points, drove the Sixers in Philadelphia this Sunday in a disputed victory against the Boston Celtics (116-115) to tie this Eastern semifinal 2-2.
Harden, who in the first game of the series he scored 45 points but in the next two he only added 28 in total, He also contributed 8 rebounds, 9 assists.
The bearded base was accompanied by Joel Embiidwho had 34 points and 13 rebounds.
For the Celtics, Jason Tatum only scored 2 points in the first half but he woke up after the break and finished with 24 points, 18 rebounds and 6 assists.
They also stood out in the visitors Jaylen Brown (23 points); Marcus Smart (21 points and 7 assists), whose triple on the horn and to win the match in extra time was late by tenths; and the Dominican Al Horford, excellent in defense against Embiid and who also added 10 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 blocks.
Tatum’s poor start
Brown made his team’s first 10 points and, after a Derrick White layup tackle, hung from the rim to nail a great start for Boston.
Embiid replied on the premises. Several hits from Embiid concluding the first quarter, in which he added 12 pointsthey left the score with the locals 8 up at the end of a very low scoring run (27-19).
In the first minutes of the second quarter both teams gave away a triple display (two from Smart and one from Malcolm Brogdon for the Celtics and two from Harden and one from Georges Niang for the Sixers).
Upon reaching the equator of the second segment, Tatum was the only starter on his team who had not scored yet. despite the fact that he had already tried 7 shots.
Brogdon, who coming off the bench hit three triples and 13 points in the quarter, was the only scorer for the Celtics during 7 minutes of play.
In that panorama it became enormous Harden, who left behind the doubts of the last two games and that he took a step forward with 15 points and a 3 of 3 in triples in the second quarter.
Tatum finally made his debut with a mid-range shot with half a minute to go before halftime, and Horford, with a triple one second before the horn sounded, prevented the Sixers’ advantage, which had reached a 16-point difference. , will exceed double digits (59-50).
Harden plays like MVP
Tatum made the first two baskets of the third quarter promising an awakening, but Harden, playing like he was in his prime, and Embiid held the Sixers to a comfortable lead. (78-63 with 6.02 on the clock).
In any case, Tatum had already seized the helm of the Celtics by then and, with 13 goals in that third period, he allowed his team to reach the last quarter with options (92-83).
A dunk by White after two minutes of scoring drought for both teams at the beginning of the final quarter claimed for the Celtics that the game was still open (92-85).
So much so that, with two triples by Smart and Brown and a basket from the past ring by Tatum, those of Boston tied the match (96-96) with still 5 minutes to play.
In the first 8 minutes of the decisive set, the Sixers only scored 4 points.
In that stretch of growth of Boston stood out Horford, fantastic in his defense of Embiid with several blocks and who also signed a fantastic dunk.
With -2 for the Sixers and less than half a minute on the clock, Harden tied the score with a drive and then Smart couldn’t avoid overtime by missing a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.
In overtime, Tatum made his only triple in the game with 38 seconds remaining (113-115) but Harden answered him with another shot from three, from the corner and a pass from Embiid, which sealed the victory for Philadelphia after the refs confirmed that a 3-pointer Smart had hit on the buzzer had been out of time.