The Boston Celtics kicked off the first round series against the Philadelphia 76ers with a hard-fought 109: 101 win (BOXSCORE) celebrated. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, in particular, are running hot, the latter even entering the record books. Joel Embiid, on the other hand, remains pale in the crucial phase.
Boston Celtics (3) – Philadelphia 76ers (6) 109:101 (BOXSCORE), Serie: 1-0
For the 21st time in the long history of the NBA, the Celtics and Sixers meet in the playoffs, in the first game of this year’s series the two Eastern powers fought a hot fight – with the better end for Boston. The duo Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown ended up being too much for Philadelphia.
Tatum ran particularly hot in the second quarter and ended the game with a new playoff career high of 32 points at 10 of 21 out of the field. In addition, the 22-year-old grabbed 13 rebounds and became the youngest player in Celtics history with a 30/10 game in the postseason.
In the second half, Tatum had problems with the matchup with Matisse Thybulle. But Brown was there in the final stages, the 23-year-old scored 15 of his 29 points (9/16 FG, 5/8 threesomes) in the fourth quarter. In addition, Kemba Walker delivered 19 points and 5 assists and Daniel Theis also showed a strong performance with 9 points, 3 boards as well as 3 assists and a good defense.
In the fourth quarter, however, Boston had to accept a downer. In a fight for a rebound, Gordon Hayward (12 points, 5/13 FG) badly bent his right ankle and hobbled off the floor. The forward couldn’t come back with a sprained ankle.
On the Sixers’ side, Joel Embiid was the best man with 26 points (8/15 FG) and 16 rebounds, but did not get as much in the second half as the Sixers would have liked. Josh Richardson did a strong job at both ends of the court (18 points, 6 rebounds), Alec Burks delivered instant offense from the bench (18) and Tobias Harris also got 15 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists.
But that wasn’t enough to win, also because the Sixers lost 18 balls. Boston only made 7 turnover. Game 2 of the series is on the program in the night from Wednesday to Thursday (0.30 a.m.).
Joel Embiid gets off to a strong start – Turnovers cause problems for Sixers
The opening minutes of the game belonged to Embiid, who immediately played himself in a strong rhythm. First he hammered a cracking dunk through the trap after Theis had lost sight of it. Shortly afterwards, the Big Man sank a deep stepback triple when the shot clock ran out. Brown set his own 10 points against his 11 points in the first quarter, Philly went into the second section with a slight advantage (26:25).
One problem for the Sixers: the many turnovers. This continued in the second round, until the half-time break Philly collected a total of 13 ball losses (BOS: 4), which the Celtics converted into 16 points. In connection with the hot Tatum (15 points in the second quarter), Boston was up to 10 points. Meanwhile, the Sixers failed to feed Embiid the ball, and Richardson kept his team in the game at this point (55:49 Boston at break).
Even after the break, the Big Men of the Sixers initially had problems. Both Embiid and Horford did in the post after double teams of the Celts turnover, but the Celtics offense was no longer so explosive. Led by Shake Milton (13) and Burks, Philly started a 13-0 run with which they took the lead towards the end of the third quarter (79:75).
Jaylen Brown catches fire in the fourth quarter – Celtics win
Embiid introduced the final section with a deep twos, after which the Celtics took over the reins in a now very physical game. After Tatum in the first half, it was Brown who ran hot after being briefly treated with a bruise on his thigh in the third quarter. His transition threesome brought Boston down to 99:91 with four and a half minutes left.
Although Walker increased the lead to 10 points shortly afterwards, the game was far from over. Slowly but surely Philly crawled up again in the final minutes. However, they did not get the ball to Embiid again, instead Richardson made it exciting from downtown. However, Burk showed his nerve and only scored one of two free throws 30 seconds before the end. The Celtics on the other hand did better, Walker and Tatum brought the win off the line to a dry sheet.
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