76ers cap off sweep of Nets
All Joel Embiid could give the 76ers on Saturday was encouragement.
The NBA’s leading scorer and MVP finalist couldn’t play because of a sprained right knee, but still provided a presence for his team.
“It starts with Joel,” guard Tyrese Maxey said. “He’s the leader of this team and for him, he takes the guys before the game and he told us good luck and we appreciate him for that. And we need him to get healthy.”
The 76ers bought him plenty of time to do that.
Tobias Harris had 25 points and 12 rebounds, and the 76ers beat the Nets 96-88 to complete a sweep and become the first team to reach the second round of the playoffs.
James Harden added 17 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds for the thirdseeded 76ers, who will wait for the winner of the series between the Celtics and Hawks.
The defending Eastern Conference champion Celtics have a 2-1 lead.
By sweeping a sevengame series for the first time since beating the Bucks in 1985, the 76ers ensured that Embiid will have at least a week to recover before they play again.
“Obviously, today was big for us so we can get Big Fella healthy,” Harden said. “That’s priority No. 1.”
The 76ers turned to their defense without him and ended up outscoring the Nets 21-4 during a stretch of more than eight minutes in the third quarter.
Maxey finished a strong series with 16 points and Paul Reed added 10 points and 15 rebounds after replacing Embiid in the starting lineup.
Spencer Dinwiddie scored 20 points and Nic Claxton had 19 points and 12 rebounds for the Nets, who were swept for the second straight year and have lost 10 straight postseason games.
Durant scores 31, Suns beat Clippers for 3-1 lead:
Kevin Durant scored 31 points, Devin Booker added 30 and the Suns defeated the Clippers without Kawhi Leonard 112-100 on Saturday to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the first-round playoff series.
The Clippers, who lost Game 3 by five points, again made a strong run with Leonard watching from the bench. He has missed two straight games with a sprained right knee. They’re also without Paul George, who hasn’t played since March 21 because of the same injury as Leonard.
Russell Westbrook carried the Clippers in the fourth quarter. He had 14 points, including nine in a row when they twice pulled within two points.
Westbrook finished with a game-high 37 points. Norman Powell added 14 points and Terance Mann had 13 off the bench.
Game 5 is Tuesday in Phoenix.
Bucks’ Antetokounmpo out for Game 3:
Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo has been ruled out of Game 3 of his team’s Eastern Conference first-round series against the Heat on Saturday night because of his ongoing back issue.
It’s the second full game that Antetokounmpo has missed in the series. He played only 11 minutes of Game 1, was ruled out for the remainder of that game after being diagnosed with a back contusion and then did not play Wednesday.