Saturday's NBA playoffs: 76ers roll in postseason opener
Philadelphia – James Harden feels more at home in Philly this postseason go-around than he did a year ago when he was still finding his footing after a trade. It helps that The Beard knows his role alongside Joel Embiid, has his health – and his signature step-back is back on point from beyond the arc.
“He's confident in how we play now,” coach Doc Rivers said. “Last year, even when he was playing, it was, am I doing the right thing here?”
Harden had all the right moves against the Nets.
Harden hit seven 3-pointers and had 23 points and 13 assists, NBA MVP finalist Embiid scored 26 points and the Philadelphia 76ers pushed back Mikal Bridges and the Brooklyn Nets in a 121-101 Game 1 victory on Saturday.
Tobias Harris added 21 points and the 76ers hit a postseason team-record 21 3s in the opener of this Eastern Conference playoff series. The Sixers are trying to win their first NBA championship since 1983 and advance past the second round for the first time since 2001.
The No. 3-seeded 76ers host Game 2 on Monday.
Bridges scored 30 points and helped the Nets at least hang around in the first half.
But Brooklyn’s starless roster was no match for Embiid, Harden and a playoff-tested roster expected to make a deep run in the postseason. The Sixers had a sellout crowd of 20,913 in a frenzy from the opening tip, then blew the game open in the fourth.
Philly got it done even without a vintage effort from Embiid.
Embiid made only 7 of 15 shots (and all 11 free throws) and was flustered at times against double-teams that followed him all over the court. Embiid was smacked in the face on a missed dunk that sent him crashing to the court in an attempt to draw a flagrant foul. Embiid got heated when he had his arm locked up by Royce O’Neale and the two briefly tussled.
The off-night from the floor wasn't good enough for Nets coach Jacque Vaughn.
“Hopefully, they'll be calling traveling and 3 seconds on the big fella the next game,” Vaughn said.
No worries for the Sixers, though. Harden, who topped the league in assists this season, picked up the slack and stuck it to the Nets with his step-back 3s.
“I couldn't make a layup,” the 33-year-old Harden said with a laugh. “But that's the least of my worries. My legs, my body feels just powerful, feels strong.”
Harden’s ineffectiveness around the rim in the first half – he was 1 of 8 on 2s – was offset by his 5-of-7 shooting on 3s. He buried two 3s late against his former team in the second quarter that stretched the lead to double digits.
“He looked great from 3,” Embiid said.
Embiid, the NBA scoring champion, could not impose his will against Brooklyn as he had this season to become an MVP finalist. He only took seven shots in the first half.
Unlike the regular season, when the Sixers were crushed by the non-Embiid minutes, the reserves came through. De’Anthony Melton, Jalen McDaniels and Georges Niang all hit 3s – the 76ers made 13 of 21 in the half – to keep them in control of Game 1.
Bridges kept Game 1 from becoming an early rout in a homecoming effort.
Bridges attended Great Valley High School in Malvern, Pennsylvania, just outside Philadelphia, then played three seasons at Villanova. Bridges helped the Wildcats win two national championship – the 2016 and 2018 national championship banners hang in the Wells Fargo Center rafters. Bridges seemed he would stay in the area when he was drafted by the 76ers with the No. 10 pick in the 2018 draft.
Then came a pair of embarrassments in rapid succession: Bridges celebrated on draft night with his mom, who worked at the time for the 76ers. The feel-good reunion lasted about 15 minutes and Bridges was traded to Phoenix for Zhaire Smith. Bridges is now a bona fide NBA star while Smith flamed out after only 13 career NBA games.
Philly fans can only imagine Bridges in this lineup.
He made 10 of 16 shots for 23 points in the first half and kept the Nets, who opened the season with Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and championship aspirations, within nine at halftime.
“It feels good to make some shots,” Bridges said. “But I'd rather miss shots and win. It's whatever.”
More Saturday results
▶N.Y. Knicks 101, (at) Cleveland 97: Jalen Brunson shook off foul trouble and scored 21 of his 27 in the second half, Julius Randle returned from an ankle injury to add 19 and the New York Knicks welcomed Cleveland back to the NBA playoffs by holding off the Cavaliers 101-97 on Saturday night in Game 1.
Brunson was limited to nine minutes in the first half, but hit several big shots down the stretch as the Knicks turned back Cleveland’s late rally led by Donovan Mitchell.
Mitchell finished with 38 for the Cavs, who returned to the playoff stage for the first time since the 2018 NBA Finals. It’s been a long road back for Cleveland, which wasn’t as hurt by its inexperience as lack of bench production from the bench.
Josh Hart added 17 points – and hit a big 3-pointer down the stretch – for New York, whose reserves outscored the Cavs 37-14.
Jarrett Allen had 14 points and 14 rebounds for Cleveland.
Game 2 is Tuesday at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.
▶(At) Boston 112, Atlanta 99: Jaylen Brown had 29 points and 12 rebounds, and Boston capitalized on a woeful shooting performance by Atlanta in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference first-round matchup.
Jayson Tatum scored 25 points, 21 in the first half. Derrick White finished with 25 points and 11 rebounds for Boston, which hosts Game 2 on Tuesday.
The No. 2-seeded Celtics led by as many as 32 points, pouncing on an Atlanta team that missed its first 10 3-point attempts and shot 5 of 29 from beyond the arc for the game.
Dejounte Murray led the Hawks with 24 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Trae Young added 16 points.