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Plus: Suns’ offense can’t find its footing in Denver
With presumed MVP Joel Embiid announced as inactive just hours before tip at the TD Garden, the Sixers turned to James Harden to pick up a lot of the lost production. He answered the call with authority, scoring a playoff career-best 45 points on 17-30 shooting, including 15 in the fourth.
Tyrese Maxey ended up as the number two guy for the Sixers; he scored 26 points and grabbed four (!!!) steals. Because of the Embiid injury, Philly was forced to play “B-Ball Paul” Reed, and he did a very respectable job, finishing with 10 points and 13 rebounds in his 37 minutes while netting a +8 for his squad.
Sixers are now 2-0 when playing without Embiid compared to the 3-0 mark with him. We could be watching Philly take the next step right in front of our very eyes. Their first priority will be getting game 3 at Wells Fargo Center on Friday at 10 p.m.
Nuggets stay perfect at Ball Arena following 97-87 win over Suns
After a 34-point, nine-assist game 1, the Suns did a much better job defensively to make Jamal Murray’s life harder, holding him to just 10 points on 3-15 shooting, but Nikola Jokic had 39 points on 17-30, so Denver was able to overcome Murray’s shortcomings.
The sputtering Suns offense appears to be in total disarray after Kevin Durant’s abysmal shooting night (24 points on 10-27 FG, 2-12 3P), Chris Paul’s groin tightness, and the bench’s complete inability to make a three (combined 0-9 from deep). Speaking of threes, it was easy to tell that three-point volume was a big point of emphasis for the Suns’ gameplan, especially given the mere 23 attempts in game 1. They finished 6-31 as a team from deep following an 0-7 start in the first quarter, where they forced it a little too much.
Trailing by five near the end of the third, Denver nearly doubled the scoring output of Phoenix in the final frame, closing on a 29-14 run. While the Nuggets successfully protected homecourt in the first two games and are now 5-0 at home in these playoffs, the Suns now have a chance to protect their homecourt with game 3 tipping off Friday at 10 p.m.
