James Harden has a triple double and the Nets‘ Big 3 combined for 83 points to advance past the Celtics in a 123-109 Game 5 win in Brooklyn.
Here’s a few takeaways from the game:
1. James Harden got things started and scored the first six points of the game for the Nets. The two sides fought back and forth through the quarter. The Nets shot just 2-for-8 from three in the period, but still managed to hold a 31-24 lead thanks to Harden’s 11 points and Kyrie Irving‘s nine.
2. The Nets extended the lead to 59-51 at halftime on the back of Harden flirting with a first half triple-double. The guard had 18 points, nine assists and seven rebounds just heading into the break. Irving added 15 points as well, while Kevin Durant stayed quiet with seven points on 3-of-7 shooting.
Jayson Tatum and Jabari Parker were leading the way for the Celtics, each dropping 11 points.
3. Durant came alive in the third, doubling his scoring up to 14 less than halfway through the quarter to help the Nets take their then-largest lead of the game at 14.
Romeo Langford started to open up a bit, hitting two threes in the quarter as Boston cut into the lead and tried to stave off elimination.
Tatum hit a buzzer-beating mid-range jumper to get to 20 points and make it a seven-point game.
4. With the Nets up 10, Harden was called for his fifth foul after Evan Fournier got the charge call on a made Harden basket, but Steve Nash had the refs review the call and they reversed it, giving Harden back the foul and putting at the line for the and-one shot.
This moment is where the game really could’ve shifted in the Celtics’ favor, with the initial call likely putting Harden on the bench for a few minutes, but instead, the Nets continued to pour it on.
Back-to-back threes by Durant and Irving brought the lead back up to 14 with 7:18 to play and forced Brad Stevens to call a timeout before the momentum got too out of hand.
5. Harden picked up his triple-double midway through the final quarter and hit a three-pointer in the same spot that Durant and Irving did just moments earlier to cross the 30-point mark.
His final stat line was 34 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, while also stealing the ball twice and blocking two shots as well. It’s his fourth playoff triple-double and his first as a Net — this was the 11th in franchise history.
The Nets used the 37-point fourth quarter to put away the Celtics for good and secure the 4-1 series win to advance to the second round.
Durant finished with 24 points and three blocks, while Irving dropped 25 of his own. The team shot 48.4 percent from three and 51.8 from the field overall.
Tatum had 32 points, nine rebounds and three blocks in his final game of the season.
What’s Next:
The Nets will face the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The series will begin on Saturday.