James Harden and the Philadelphia 76ers look to even up their NBA playoff series when they host the Boston Celtics in Game 4 of their second round series.
Tip-off is set for 3:30 p.m. ET at Wells Fargo Center. The Celtics are -2.5 point favorites with the total at 214.5.
Philadelphia 76ers (59-30, 1-2)
Which James Harden is going to show up for Game 4? Will it be the Harden who scored 45-points in Philadelphia’s 119-115 victory over Boston in Game 1? Or the guy who struggled mightily over the past two games.
I still can’t get over James Harden making just 9 two point FG’s in 4 games against Brooklyn and then making 10 two point FG’s in G1 against the Boston Celtics. Vintage Harden performance pic.twitter.com/S9u0rr3rAi
— Steve Sabbatini (@ssabb05) May 3, 2023
The former NBA MVP and three-time scoring champion has made just 5 of 28 shots from the floor. That also includes 2 of 13 from beyond the arc since Game 1.
Harden says the Celtics aren’t doing anything different on defense. On the plus side, Joel Embiid is back. He had 30 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks after being honored prior to Game 3 for winning the NBA MVP award.
Despite the L, Joel Embiid had a strong Game 3 at home last night
30 PTS
13 REB
4 BLK#NBAPlayoffs
pic.twitter.com/2CihcGNrHo— OutOfSightSports🚀™️ (@OOSSports) May 6, 2023
The Sixers will need to find offense outside of Embiid for Game 4, otherwise, they could head back to Boston facing elimination. Here’s what Philadelphia needs to do to even up this series. They’ll need Harden to work up some of that Game 1 magic and shoulder some of the offensive load with Embiid.
Boston Celtics (63-28, 2-1)
Boston’s Jayson Tatum rebounded from a seven-point performance in Game 2 to scored 27 points and 10 rebounds in Friday’s 114-102 victory.
Victoria final de Boston por 114 a 102 ante Philadelphia para recuperar la ventaja de localía y poner la serie por 2-1 a favor. Jason Tatum, la figura de los Céltica con 27 puntos. #NBAPlayoffs https://t.co/Gxi5nqI8Q6
— basquetplus (@basquetplus) May 6, 2023
Jaylen Brown tallied 23 points and grabbed seven rebounds while Al Horford sank five 3-pointers and finished with 17 points and seven rebounds.
Celtics make adjustments
After the Game 1 loss to the Sixers to open this series, the Celtics have been far more focused in these last two games. The stars in Tatum and Brown are doing what they’re expected to do, and role players are stepping up.
Boston effectively shut down everyone on the Sixers’ roster and forced Joel Embiid to beat them, and it worked. Boston can’t expect that every night, but you can expect a similar formula for Game 4.
The Celtics are now 6-2 straight up in their last eight meetings with the 76ers, leaving little reason to believe that the latter can even the series Sunday. Brown, Tatum, and the rest of Boston’s top players are clicking, and when one is quiet, another steps up. The same can’t be said about a Philadelphia team that can’t seem to get multiple players rolling at the same time.
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