Sharp-shooting Boston Celtics blitz Philadelphia 76ers to square series
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The Celtics' Jaylen Brown (left) dribbles against the Sixers' Tobias Harris during their game at TD Garden in Boston on May 3.
PHOTO: AFP
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NEW YORK – It was all a matter of “pride” on Wednesday night, as the Boston Celtics produced an exhibition of three-point shooting to blow away the Philadelphia 76ers 121-87 and tie their National Basketball Association (NBA) Eastern Conference play-off series.
Jaylen Brown led a clinical offensive display for the second-seeded Celtics to swat aside a Sixers line-up who welcomed back newly crowned NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid after an injury absence of nearly two weeks.
Brown finished with 25 points while Malcolm Brogdon poured in 23 from the bench, including six three-pointers, as the Celtics bounced back from Monday’s Game 1 loss at the TD Garden.
The best-of-seven semi-final series is level at 1-1 as the teams head to Philadelphia for Game 3 on Friday.
“We just set the tone on defence, trying to be aggressive on both sides of the ball, getting our teammates going. But really just setting the tone on defence and having fun,” Brown said.
“I think we’ve just got to take more pride in ourselves. That’s it.
“I just feel like we underperformed last game. We wanted to come out and play to the best of our ability. That’s what we did.”
After Wednesday’s rout, Sixers coach Doc Rivers will have plenty of food for thought despite the mostly successful return of Embiid,
Embiid made his presence felt with 15 points and five blocks but was clearly not at full fitness, before being removed from the fray in the third quarter as Boston surged into a commanding lead.
The Celtics, meanwhile, will be buoyed by a display that mixed defensive ruggedness with free-scoring offence.
No fewer than eight Boston players contributed to their tally of 20 three-pointers from 51 attempts.
Philadelphia by contrast made only six of 30 from beyond the arc with their off-night, underscored by James Harden’s futile shooting from three-point range.
Harden, the 45-point hero of Monday’s Game 1, made zero of six attempted three-pointers, finishing with just 12 points from two-of-14 shooting.
“Offensively we were pretty bad, but give them credit – their ball pressure ate us up all night,” Rivers said.
“I thought they pressured us, they denied us, they played in our airspace all game.
“We talked about it before the game. You can talk about intensity and force all you want but, when you get out on the court and it’s actually being applied to you, you have to be able to handle it.
“And we didn’t handle it very well tonight.”
After taking a 57-49 lead at half-time, the Celtics dropped the hammer in the third quarter, blitzing the Sixers 35-16 to effectively seal victory.
That left Boston up by 27 points heading into the final quarter and there was no way back for a shellshocked Sixers team. AFP
