James Harden Didn't Want 76ers Overreacting to Win vs. Celtics

James Harden wants the 76ers to keep their focus after a Game 1 win over the Celtics.

The Philadelphia 76ers were understandably excited to defeat the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals on Monday night.

But James Harden didn’t want his teammates to get too carried away.

In a tight matchup that went down to the wire, the Sixers made it out of TD Garden with a victory. Harden, who had his best postseason outing while donning Sixers threads, reminded his teammates of one simple, yet key factor; it’s just one game.

"It’s one game, bro,” Harden yelled on the court. “It’s one game!”

James Harden:

"It's 1 game bro. It's 1 game." 🗣️😤

pic.twitter.com/ijKIggZQ0e

— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) May 2, 2023

If there’s one player who had the right to celebrate on Monday — it was Harden. However, the ten-time All-Star guard was clearly locked-in as he wants to keep his focus beyond Game 1.

The Sixers found themselves in a tough predicament before the matchup. In the week leading up to Game 1, the Sixers found out their center, Joel Embiid, would be deemed doubtful for the matchup.

As expected, Embiid was ruled out ahead of Game 1 due to a knee sprain. As a result, the Celtics were heavy favorites going into the game.

Harden looked forward to putting his offensive aggressiveness on display after getting ten days of rest. After mentioning he had no choice but to flip a switch and revert back to his old ways a bit in the absence of Embiid, the former scoring champion and MVP proved he’s still got it.

In 39 minutes of action, Harden chucked up 30 shots from the field, knocking down 17 of them. He drained 50 percent of his 14 threes and went 4-4 from the charity stripe. 

By the end of Game 1, Harden scored a game-high of 45 points, which marked his playoff-high since he’s been with the Sixers. 

There was plenty to celebrate for the Sixers, who collected a statement win over a higher-seeded Celtics team without their MVP-caliber player, but Harden doesn’t want to overdo it with excitement as he knows there is plenty of work to be done.

The Sixers and the Celtics will meet for Game 2 on Wednesday night.