PHILADELPHIA — After James Harden had the two worst consecutive shooting performances of his entire career in Games 2 and 3 of the 76ers‘ Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Boston Celtics, Philadelphia coach Doc Rivers decided to remind his star guard of who he is heading into Game 4.
“I sent him a gospel song,” Rivers later said with a laugh. “The title of it is, ‘You Know My Name?'”
Harden explained it all later.
“I’m on my way to the game, and I get a text from Doc,” Harden said with a laugh. “It’s a gospel song, and I’m like, ‘All right, whatever.’ So, I just tell my homies, ‘Let’s play the song.’ It’s a seven-minute song, but I let the whole song play.
“I was like, ‘All right, there’s got to be some kind of good juju in this song, or however he’s feeling, I want to feel like that.’ And I guess it worked.”
It certainly did. Harden finished with a spectacular line, scoring 42 points on 16-for-23 shooting, including 6-for-9 from 3-point range, to go along with eight rebounds, nine assists, four steals, a block and just one turnover in 47 minutes. And he hit the tying shot in the closing seconds of regulation before burying a corner 3-pointer with 19 seconds to go in the contest to lift Philadelphia to a stunning 116-115 overtime victory on Sunday at Wells Fargo Center.
The Eastern Conference showdown now heads back to Boston for Game 5 on Tuesday knotted at two games apiece — and does so because Harden rediscovered the magic he had in Game 1, when he poured in 45 points to lead Philadelphia to a win without Joel Embiid. Then in Games 2 and 3, he combined to shoot 5-for-28 from the field — the worst two-game shooting effort of his career, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
There were no such issues on Sunday.
“That’s what he needs to do every night,” said Embiid, who finished with 34 points, 14 rebounds and four assists in 46 minutes in just his third game back from a sprained lateral collateral ligament in his right knee. “Not think about anything.
“It’s not about taking a lot of shots. It’s just about being aggressive, attacking the rim, finding guys, and he was fantastic tonight.”
Philadelphia needed Harden to be, as Embiid, in particular, appeared to run out of gas in the game’s closing minutes. Embiid got his shot blocked by longtime nemesis Al Horford three times in the final few minutes of the fourth quarter — prompting P.J. Tucker to give the newly minted MVP…
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