‘Hindsight’s always 20/20’: Joe Mazzulla doesn’t regret how Celtics guarded James Harden in Game 1 loss
Harden scored a game-high 45 points, including the game-deciding bucket to give the 76ers the win on Monday.
James Harden was virtually unstoppable in Game 1.
The 76ers’ star guard shot 17-of-30 from the field and 7-of-14 from deep to score 45 points, matching a playoff career-high to upset the Celtics to take Game 1 of the second round NBA playoff series.
The final three of those 45 points that Harden scored came in the game’s closing seconds. With the Celtics holding a 115-114 lead, Harden called for a screen to get Marcus Smart off him. The Celtics obliged, which they usually do as they switch on almost all screens.
That left Al Horford on Harden. With the shot clock winding down, Harden stepped back behind the 3-point line and nailed a 3-pointer to put the 76ers up by two with 8.1 seconds left before hanging on to win 119-115.
The 76ers’ decision to attack Horford in pick-and-rolls was one of their most successful plays of the night. The 16 picks the 76ers set for Harden involving the player Horford was covering resulted in 28 points, per Second Spectrum.
Despite the 76ers’ continued success attacking Horford in pick-and-rolls with Harden, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla didn’t have any regrets about switching to have Horford on Harden for the game-deciding shot.
“Al is one of our best defenders. He’s been all year,” Mazzulla said. “[Harden] made a big shot.”
Harden’s marvelous shooting performance was the catalyst for the 76ers’ offense on Monday, which shot 50.6 percent from the field and 44.7 percent from deep. Those percentages are among the worst the Celtics have allowed in a game this season as Tobias Harris (18 points on 8-of-16 shooting), Tyrese Maxey (26 points on 10-of-24 shooting), and De’Anthony Melton (17 points on 6-of-10 shooting) all pitched in.
Because of how well some of the 76ers’ other players shot, Mazzulla didn’t think it was a great idea to double Harden more than he did.
“That’s the big catch,” Mazzulla said when asked about doubling Harden. “That’s what you do on Harden: Do you want to try to throw an extra guy at him? I called one in the first half and gave an open 3 to [Georges] Niang and we did one again at the end of the third quarter and we gave one to Harris.
” So, their spacing was really good and when they have shooters, they put you in a bind. Are you going to be shifted off of them? In the first half, we were shifted a little bit more and gave up some catch-and-shoot shots to their role guys. Credit to them, they knocked them down.”
Even though the 76ers continued to hit shots as the Celtics didn’t double Harden in the second half, Mazzulla believes that they “adjusted well,” while opting not to play the results.
“We doubled in the first half and they had six points off double teams on Harden. So, hindsight’s always 20/20,” Mazzulla said. “If we didn’t double him [and they missed their shots], it would’ve been great defense. If we did double him and they did hit their shots, it would’ve been, ‘Why did we double him?’ We doubled twice in the first half on my call and they scored both times on it.”
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