DENVER — Nikola Jokic scored 39 points and pulled down 16 rebounds on the eve of the NBA MVP announcement to rally the Denver Nuggets to a 97-87 win over Phoenix on Monday night, giving them a 2-0 lead over the Suns in the Western Conference semifinals.
“I love an aggressive Nikola Jokic,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said after Jokic knocked down 17 shots to offset an off-night by Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr., who combined to make miss 17 of 22 shots.
“Nikola’s an MVP for a reason,” Malone said. “He can take over a game. He can beat you in a lot of ways. … I love a guy who’s getting to the basket, imposing his will upon the other team. And that fourth quarter, man, 14 points for that team, 28% from the field, 0-for-9 from 3?”
Devin Booker led Phoenix with 35 points and Kevin Durant added 24 but they combined to miss a whopping 32 shots, including 14 from long range.
Jokic shined a night before he learns if he’s edged Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo for his third consecutive NBA MVP award, recently renamed for Michael Jordan.
“I can’t think about that,” Jokic said.
Malone said that’s because Jokic isn’t motivated by winning more MVPs but by leading the Nuggets to their first NBA title.
“If he wins, it, we will be celebrating and very happy for him because it’d be a huge accomplishment — three years in a row. Only a few guys in NBA history have done that,” Malone said. “If he doesn’t win it, I’m still gonna give him a hug and tell him he’s the MVP in my eyes.”
He sure showed why Monday night when 26 of his points and 12 of his rebounds came after halftime, when he dominated at both ends of the floor, denyng the Suns a shot at tying the series that shifts to Phoenix for Game 3 Friday night.
“It was that kind of game,” Jokic said. “My team needed me to be aggressive.”
The Suns have been outscored by 30 points from long range this series.
“You’ve got to believe that it’s going to come our way here soon,” Suns coach Monty Williams said. “We’ve got to go home and take care of business. That’s where we are right now.”
The Suns held Murray to 10 points 48 hours after he went off for 34 but they had no answers for Jokic.
“Slowed down Murray a bit,” Durant said. “He obviously got it going in the first game. But Jokic was doing a little bit too much. I think we held them to 97 points total. Usually that’s a win for us.”
Jokic’s big night was necessary as Murray shot 3 for 15 and missed all nine of his 3-pointers after sinking six of 10 in the opener, and Porter scored five points on 2-for-7 shooting.
Aaron Gordon added 16 points and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 14 points and went 4 for 4 from beyond the arc, including back-to-back swishes that erased the 73-70 deficit and put the Nuggets ahead for good early in the fourth quarter.
Harden scores 45, hits late 3 as 76ers down Celtics
BOSTON (AP) — James Harden was asked for most of this season to be a facilitator for a 76ers team built around big man Joel Embiid.
With the MVP finalist sidelined for the opener of his team’s second-round playoff series with the Celtics, Philadelphia called on a vintage version of Harden.
He happily obliged.
Harden matched his playoff career high with 45 points and hit a go-ahead, step-back 3-pointer over Al Horford with 8.7 seconds left as the 76ers rallied without Embiid to beat Boston 119-115 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Monday night.
“We didn’t come into the game expecting to lose. We came in here to win,” Harden said. “Whether Jo comes back or not, we’re going to be ready to go.”
Tyrese Maxey added 26 points and Tobias Harris finished with 18 for the Sixers, who made 17 3-pointers with Embiid watching from the bench. He sprained his right knee in Game 3 of Philadelphia’s first-round sweep of the Brooklyn Nets.
After the Sixers endured an early scoring onslaught from the Celtics, 76ers coach Doc Rivers said Harden was patient and knew when to attack and when to pass.
Rivers said having a week to prepare for the likelihood Embiid would be out was key.
“That’s the difference between this year’s team and last year’s team. We have a bunch of street fighters,” Rivers said. “If we could get to the fourth quarter, we were going to win the game. That’s how we felt.”
Jayson Tatum led the Celtics with 39 points and 11 rebounds. Jaylen Brown added 23 points and Malcolm Brogdon finished with 20.
“They hit big shots and I think they were just in a rhythm throughout the whole game,” Tatum said.
Boston hosts Game 2 on Wednesday night.
Harden previously scored 45 points for the Houston Rockets in a Western Conference Finals win over Golden State on May 25, 2015.
Trailing 117-115, the Celtics had one final chance and got the ball to Tatum, but he lost the ball to Paul Reed, who was fouled and hit a pair of free throws.
The game was tied at 87-all entering the back-and-forth final period.
Tatum gave the Celtics their final lead, 115-114, on a pair of free throws with 26.1 seconds left.
Before that, Boston took the shot clock down before Maxey intercepted a pass by Brogdon and drove in for a layup to put the 76ers in front, 114-113.
“I was about to pick the ball up, but I’m glad I kept running,” Maxey said.
Boston led 108-107 when Harden was called for an offensive foul on Horford. On the ensuing possession, Horford found Marcus Smart, who was fouled on a layup.