Twenty-two instances, the Celtics and 76ers have tipped off a playoff sequence with Boston proudly owning a 15-7 lead. Their twenty third assembly began with a 123-91 blowout in Sport 1 of this 12 months’s first spherical sequence with the Jays combining for 51 factors and 10 assists.
If there was any doubt that Jayson Tatum wasn’t prepared for the postseason after a 16-game common season runway, his efficiency within the sequence opener silenced any doubters. Only a 12 months shy of his Achilles tear, Tatum completed with one other close to triple-double of 25-11-7. He seemed springy on protection and like a charging bull on his drives.
And as for this 12 months’s MVP candidate, Jaylen Brown fulfilled his position as lead scorer with 26 on 11-of-21 capturing. He began off gradual earlier than halftime, hitting simply 4-of-12, however when the 76ers threatened a comeback to open the third, Brown scored on 7-of-9 from the sector for 26 factors to place Philadelphia away.
The Celtics have been affected by x-factors all season. This afternoon, with a wholesome roster and nobody on the damage report, it was the whole staff that had their moments within the blowout win. Mazzulla had trimmed the rotation to eight in direction of the tip of the season, however with the bigs in foul hassle within the first half and the sport in hand by the beginning of the fourth, Boston went twelve deep and everyone had their moments: a floater and block from Baylor Scheierman; Luka Garza with a putback and triple; Jordan Walsh contributed a Maxey shift and a leak out dunk; Sam Hauser hit 4-of-6 from 3.
In the end, the Celtics bench outscored Philly’s 37-27, led by Payton Pritchard’s 12 and 6 assists.
As we previewed right here at CelticsBlog, containing Tyrese Maxey was going to be a precedence for Boston and for essentially the most half, they stored the All-Star level guard in examine. Maxey managed to steer the 76ers in scoring with 21 factors, however on an inefficient 8-of-20 with simply 5 journeys to the free throw line and three turnovers.
Creating turnovers hasn’t been a power for the Celtics, however in Sport 1, they compelled fourteen that generated 22 factors. Conversely, Boston had simply eight givewaways from 3.
Sport 2 is on Tuesday at TD Backyard with a 7 pm tip-off.
