Devin Booker can't miss

PLUS: James Harden is clutch now and the Warriors are back on the ropes.

Good morning.

What a Sunday of hoops! Friday and Saturday? Eh. Sunday? Wow!

Let’s basketball.

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Scores

BOSTON VS. PHILADELPHIA
Game 3: Celtics 114, Sixers 102
Game 4: Celtics 115, Sixers 116 (OT)
Series tied 2-2

Coming off of a Game 2 disaster class performance, James Harden did just about the same thing in Game 3 on Friday: 16 points on 3/14 shooting, 11 assists to five turnovers. He went from shooting 17/30 from the floor in Game 1 (a Philly win) to shooting 5/28 in Games 2 and 3 (both Philly losses). It was as if all of that rest leading up to Game 1 allowed him to turn back the clock, but the pace of the series once it began pushed him into Sad James Harden mode.

But that theory fell apart when he was the best player on the court in Game 4: 42 points on 16/23 shooting, nine assists, one turnover, the shot to send it to overtime and the eventual game-winner. His best playoff game ever, given the stakes.

Two duds and two all-time performances so far in the series. What a ride.

Joel Embiid perked up in Game 3 with 30 points, but Boston never seemed all that at risk of losing beyond halftime. Close enough to keep interest, but because of Harden and Tyrese Maxey’s (4/16 from the floor) underwhelming performances, it wasn’t seriously dramatic. Unless you count when Embiid stepped on Grant Williams’ head. That was pretty dramatic.

Ouch!

Game 4 more than made up for that. Harden’s two huge plays came with some real head scratchers for Boston. First of all, Jaylen Brown helping off of Harden while up two with less than 30 seconds left in overtime … that’s not a good decision. And it flows into Boston’s final possession, in which Joe Mazzulla declines to take one of his two timeouts down one, despite the Celtics getting nothing going quickly before Jayson Tatum drives, setting up Marcus Smart for a three as time expired … literally, he didn’t release the ball before time expired, a fraction of a second sooner and the Celtics win.

34 for Embiid in Game 4. He’s gaining power! This is a barn-burner series, even if every game isn’t quite this good. Best-of-three now, two in Boston. The Celtics are not predestined to be back in the Finals. They’re going to have to earn it.

And all that endgame stuff distracts from the fact that the Celtics stormed back from 16 down in the third. In both Boston losses, they looked to be in real position to win … until Harden sunk them. What a world.

Do the Sixers need to win this series for the postseason stink to wash off of Harden and Doc Rivers? Or is that job already done?