Joel Embiid singles out James Harden for lifting Sixers over Celtics

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PHILADELPHIA–The Philadelphia 76ers needed their future Hall of Famer to step up and make plays when it mattered the most. They were in danger of letting one slip away from the Boston Celtics after they saw a 16-point lead turn into a five-point deficit late in the fourth quarter.

James Harden answered the call as he had 42 points on 16-for-23 shooting, he made the game-tying shot to force overtime, and then he made the go-ahead triple with 19 seconds left in overtime. It all resulted in Philadelphia walking away with an important 116-115 win to tie the semifinals at 2-2.

Joel Embiid, who was pushing for Harden to be aggressive after Game 3, was happy with what he saw from his star teammate.

“That’s what he needs to do every night,” said Embiid of Harden. “Not think about anything. Obviously, we got some great teammates that can do a lot of things, but like I said the other night, players, doesn’t matter what is going on, players got to show up…he did tonight (Sunday) and he needs to do it every night. It’s not about taking a lot of shots, it’s just about being aggressive, attacking the rim, finding guys, and he was fantastic.”

Harden seemed to have an extra pep in his step on Sunday. He played very poorly in the losses in Games 2 and 3 and the Sixers need him to play better in order to move forward on this postseason run.

After everything that was said about him in recent days leading up to Game 4, maybe The Beard had some extra motivation.

“I’m always motivated and fired up,” Harden said succinctly. “It’s just things don’t work out how I would like them to, but it’s a part of it. I’m a competitor. I always want to win, I always want to be aggressive, and I always want to do things to contribute to winning. That’s just me. There’s no days off with that. There’s no turning it on and turning it off with that. Whether I have 40-something or 18, I always want to win the game. It’s simple.”

A pivotal Game 5 will be at the TD Garden on Tuesday in Boston.

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