Harden saved Philadelphia for the second time in the series.
In the first game of the series, without Embiid and Boston Garden, Harden scored a career-high playoff 45 points and hit a key 3-pointer against Horford to steal home-court advantage.
He's old, but the ball merchant still dominates the game. We all know his left hand, magic ball, but that game scored 17 goals, 4 goals away left hand breakthrough, shot 7 mid-range, much to the Celtics' surprise.
Then came the second and third games, 5 of 28 in total.
And then today, 42 points, the winning blow, did not let Philadelphia be directly collected: still the ball quotient and the big heart.
45 points away win, 5 of 28 shooting, two consecutive losses, 42 points to tie.
Heaven on earth.
Today's test, all in the fourth quarter.
Harden scored 29 points in two-and-a-half quarters, and Embiid scored 27 points at the end of the third quarter. Two MVP scoring champions rule the game. When Harden scored his 29th point, Tatum scored only six. Philadelphia leads by double digits.
But at the end of the third quarter, Tatum used the space lineup, coupled with Embiid's poor movement, to take over consecutive positions to close the score; In the fourth quarter, he and Horford combined for five blocks to lock Embiid. Embiid shot 1 of 6 in the fourth quarter - the only goal he scored was Harden who saw through Brogdon's breakthrough route, copied the ball, and gave Embiid a follow-up cut.
The fourth quarter in Philadelphia is to see Harden's mentality of honor and disgrace.
Horford dunked, the Celtics countered with timeout, and Harden tied with two free throws.
Smart made a three-pointer, and when the Celtics led by four points, Harden returned with a retreat mid-range shot and another layup. Then there was Tucker's 3-pointer to save Philadelphia. Dr. J in the box was moved.
Tucker eliminated Philadelphia in the playoffs last year and played seven more games against Boston.
Today, the Celtics finally forced Tucker to single out Harris: I understand this as Boston's respect and certification of Tucker.
— Horford, Smart and Tucker in the fourth quarter played real playoff basketball.
Then there's Harden's throwing level.
This goal perfectly reflects Harden's ball intelligence:
forced out Horford to change defense, watched Horford lock himself in the middle, so he broke through with his left hand to walk the outside Horford's right shoulder; When he saw Smart move, he suspected that he was going to make up for it, he immediately closed the ball, changed direction, and broke through with his right hand; Collect the ball, and at the moment of Smart coming up, an 11-foot long throw.
It is clear that there is Horford in front of him, but he perfectly avoids Smart.
In the first game against the Celtics, Harden made seven mid-range shots.
In Game 4 against the Celtics, Harden scored four shots — including two long throws from three meters away.
When the free throws are not so smooth, it shows how good his ball intelligence and hand work are.
The ball merchant is also afraid of comparison.
In the final moments of overtime, Tatum scored what could have been considered a killer, but Harden returned with a winning goal.
- The weirdness of this ball is that Embiid eats Tatum alone with the ball, White on the weak side against Maxi does not move, Tucker on the weak side is empty, and Horford comes to protect the box.
Jaylen Brown, who had scored 39 points on 5-of-8 three-pointers, came to pinch Embiid.
Jaylen, empty Harden?
Embiid assists Harden, and Harden starts with a three-pointer.
Then came the things I didn't quite understand.
As said after the first game, Coach Mazura didn't shout much. Smart's exact words: "He works exactly the same in private and in public, consistently. ”
Grant Williams put it in her words: "He sometimes called a pause and could even look at us without saying a word." ”
He's very player-hearted and solid – at worst, he's not tough enough to adjust on the spot.
In today's final attack, coach Mazura did not call a timeout, and let the Celtics start at the back and run the tactics themselves. Tatum finally gave the ball to Smart with great difficulty, scoring from distance but overtimed.
——Usually not called a timeout, let the players play by themselves, it can be said to cultivate them, the same was true of Zen masters to the Bulls and the Lakers: Of course, the Bulls have Jordan, and the Lakers have Kobe. You don't call a timeout, they can really hit on their own.
- This side of the playoffs, overtime, the last 19 seconds, not called a timeout?
The stakes are big, but if you go down on this bet, you lose a lot.
If the Celtics win this game, it will be a 3-1 lead, breaking two consecutive games in Philadelphia, braving Embiid + Harden combined for 76 points, and forcing a comeback to win in the fourth quarter. Their confidence was about to break through the sky, and the Philadelphia team was expected to have a broken mentality, and the outcome of Game 5 at Boston Garden could be imagined. I guess Lao Li was weak even shouting "let's go".
But now, the two sides are 2-to-2. The story becomes that Harden and Embiid contain the Celtics' counterattack, and Philadelphia can at least return to play a home court; And the Celtics clearly had a timeout opportunity to lay out tactics, but in the end it was a lore timeout.
I thought about it for a long time, but I still didn't understand Coach Mazura's thoughts.
Harden is old and past his peak. 5-of-28 shooting in Game 2 and 3 was the worst shooting performance of his career.
But the 45 points in Game 1 was the highest of his career playoffs; Today's 42 is the first time in his career that he has played two 40+ games in the same series.
Yes, even Harden, who fought in the Rockets era, did not do this.
I am Lao Li, how can I be like this:
The whole team left the locker room and called out to Harden alone, "You stop, I have something to say to you."
Seeing that the people are empty, bow first: "It's hard to say how many people were just now, today you saved me again, high and low I will give you a bow; In the future, you will call me coach in public, and in private I will call you big brother, and we will talk about each other. ”
In Phoenix, no matter how Jokic plays historical data, the Suns duo can carry it.
Jokic posted a rare 30 points, 17 rebounds and 17 assists in Game 3 against the Suns, and the Nuggets lost to Booker + Durant for a combined 86 points.
Jokic posted a Nuggets' all-time high 53 points and 10 assists in Game 4 against the Suns, and the Nuggets lost to Booker + Durant by 72 points — and Shamet made four three-pointers in the fourth quarter.
But these four three-pointers can also be recorded on Booker + Durant:
Or the Sun duo is too scary.
The Nuggets' first two defensive successes were their early full-rotation defense, and the second game even forced the Suns to score only 87 points.
The essence of this routine, to put it bluntly, is not surprising:
Knowing that the Suns have more than one ball handler, coveting Jokic's white flesh; Then Jokic can destroy by striking the ball in the morning, taking the ball out of your ace and rotating the whole team early.
For example: Durant finds Gordon, Ayton wants to block, Jokic clips Durant in advance, Porter rotates Ayton to assault and steal Durant's ball.
In order to dismantle the Nuggets' trick, 8 of Durant's 12 goals in the third game were speeded up and directed, plus 16 free throws, so that the Nuggets did not have room to pinch shots.
Today the sun continues to use this trick:
Less call for blocking and demolition, if you can attack, you can attack directly - since you rely on early pinch + early rotation to break our block and dismantle, then we can directly invest in the bank?
For example, Booker's first attack in the opening: don't call it blocking, go straight to you.
Another trick is simpler and crude:
Durant stood shoulder to shoulder with Booker.
Durant and Booker often stay within a passing distance, which poses a problem for the Nuggets:
You can't pinch any of them, and when you hit it, you leak a gap.
For example, Booker is going to hit Porter, and Durant is holding Gordon by his side; Gordon moved slightly to Booker's mind, and Booker passed Durant, an empty basket.
Two scoring monsters side by side, which one are you focusing on?
Of course, the two still have to block and dismantle, but they also have to divide the routine.
For example, Durant called the block to dismantle, try to block the dismantling on the sideline and not take the center, the Nuggets are pinched on the rotation, and the weak side is much empty: Booker takes the ball on the weak side and shoots directly.
When the Nuggets led 84-83 at the end of the third quarter, Durant called Randale to block at the top of the arc: at this time Randell was on the left of Durant and Booker was on the right of Durant; Durant directly broke through with his right hand: both to avoid Jokic in the center and because the right-hand side of the Bukla was empty, he could be unblocked.
This shoulder-to-shoulder approach finally drove the Nuggets crazy.
With one and a half points left in the third quarter, Booker and Durant stood shoulder to shoulder at the top of the arc, Booker called for a block, Jokic hit a three-point line, and Jeff Green went to the basket to block Randale; Booker's long pass to the weak side, assisted Rose to hit a three-pointer, Jeff Green could not catch up.
- Why isn't Potter, who is closer to Ross, to rotate Ross? Because he's staring at Durant.
Fast forward to the fourth quarter.
With 7 and a half points left, Durant and Randale looked for another arc top block, Murray rotated the basket under Randale, Durant long pass left wing Shamet, long-range shot: Murray rotated a beat slower.
Then there was Booker and Durant, the arc was shoulder to shoulder, Booker looked for a block, Gordon let Durant pinch to shoot, Murray quickly rotated Durant, Shamet was empty again: Booker's long pass, Shamet shot, another three-pointer.
The next round is when Booker asks Randale to block the inside cut - Gordon doesn't have time to fill in the position: he's following the arc top Durant.
Durant and Booker combined for 72 points in the overall game, but only 9 in the fourth quarter: Shamet had 14.
Without him, the first three sections are routine drills, fire intimidation:
"The two of us are shoulder to shoulder, 63 points in the third quarter, are you afraid?"
Booker made just one basket in the fourth quarter, but had 4 assists; It's all about using his and Durant's terror deterrent.
No matter how fast the Nuggets rotate, their legs can't run the ball after all.
On the other side, the Suns refused to let go of the Nuggets and the others. Even if the third saving Kic eats Okogie, who is one head shorter than him, even if Ayton is beaten into a sieve by Jokic, the Sun insists on not emptying the others.
Jokic's five assists in the fourth quarter came from a gap he blocked Murray with a passing pass.
Coach Malone said the Nuggets' strategy in the fourth quarter was to "have the Suns beat us with someone other than Booker and Durant" — and Shamet beat the Nuggets.
The Suns' strategy is not announced, but it is: "lock up the rest of the Nuggets and let the Nuggets beat us with Jokic alone."
In the past two games, Jokic's 30+17+17 and Jokic's 53 points and 10 assists are all performances written in history; Jokic averaged 37+14+10 per game in this series.
But Booker averaged 36+5+9 and Durant averaged 32+11+5.
Coach Monty: Since there are superstars, let's use them to death! In their eyes, there is no one else except the superstar, and no matter how stuffy the buds are, there will be a day when they break the ground.
Shamet: Yay!