Boston Celtics also won their second home game against the Philadelphia 76ers. The hosts were already 22 points behind in the second quarter, but started a furious run shortly before the break and won 108:103. sixers Ben Simmons disappointed all along the line.
The Celtics were hoping for Jaylen Brown before the tip-off, who had already missed game 1, and in fact Brown was ready for action, but at first he only came from the bench. When he arrived, he provided the first highlight as he was elitist in transition. Prior to that, Boston had big problems offensively and remained without points for over three minutes, while J.J. Redick scored the first eight sixers-counters.
Boston’s offense, on the other hand, didn’t look good at all, Philly quickly took a double-digit lead. Redick already had 13 points after a quarter, the Sixers led 31:22, so many points the Celtics had not yet lost in a first quarter in this postseason.
The Celtics seemed sleepy, made unusual turnovers and were dominated by Joel Embiid on the board, so the Sixers’ lead grew after a Dario Saric threesome it was already 45:24 and Philly had sunk more threesomes than in the entire first game. But Boston replied with an 18:3 run, the hall was upside down. The Celtics nailed three after three through the cage, Brown made the last exclamation mark before the change with an Alley Oop, the Sixers were only 56:51.
Philly didn’t help much during the break either, Boston continued where they had left off in the first half and quickly equalled the game with Marcus Smart’s and Jayson Tatum’s three of them – and that after a gap of 22 points. Ben Simmons was still without a field goal and the Sixers could hardly score anymore, now it was a monstrous 50:20 run of the Celtics over 16 minutes. Thanks to some embiid actions, Philly subsequently reduced the score to 75:79.
T.J. McConnell breathed life back into the Sixers, but Boston always had an answer. First Marcus Morris hit from a distance, then Brown let it crash again properly. But the Sixers were fully involved again, also because the threesomes fell again. But that was also the case with Boston, Terry Rozier increased from the corner back to 99:95. And Rozier followed suit: First he finished over Embiid, then the Guard operated Tatum for the Alley Oop.
Saric putbacked back to 3 points 30 seconds before the end, but Horford had the right counter with a drive against Embiid and finally decided the game, Tatum remained cool on the free-throw line.
All in all, the Celtics again showed a homogeneous performance in which Rozier (20, 9 assists), Tatum (21) and Smart (19) could shine offensively. Horford (13, 12 rebounds), Brown (13) and Morris (11) also scored in double figures. The Sixers got a lot of counts from the trio Covington (22, 4/7 trio), Embiid (20, 14 rebounds) and Redick (23, 5/9 trios), except for Saric (14).
Boston Celtics v Philaldephia 76ers 108:103, Series 2:0 (BOXSCORE)
Al Horford. What the Big unwound once more was essential for the Celtics. Ben Simmons did not take place in Halfcourt at all, because Horford and also Smart did not offer the Australians any possibilities for the drive. Horford also made good offense decisions when he quickly found the free man after Pick’n’Rolls. The Sixers rotated so much and made numerous mistakes. It was no coincidence that Big Al once again had the best plus minus of all players on the field (+21). The icing on the cake was of course the Dagger 8 seconds before the end, when he pulled decisively to the basket and caught Embiid completely on the wrong foot.
Ben Simmons. That was nothing from the rookie. In 25 minutes the Aussie only took four litters – far too few, and Boston hardly respected him any more. Simmons refused to close several times and wasted his time with too difficult passes, resulting in a total of 4 turnovers. In crunchtime he tried to be more aggressive, but not even a simple casual wanted to go into the basket. His statline: 1 point, 5 rebounds, 7 assists and 5 turnovers.
An important factor for the Celtics’ comeback shortly before the break was the Sixers’ Covington. The Swingman was outstanding in the defense, but coach Brett Brown took down his wingman to protect him from a third foul. Boston took advantage of this and the Pick’n’Roll with Hordoed ran much better now, which caused the Sixers-Defense to swim badly. The measure by Brown to name Simmons was also interesting. She was brave and right, because McConnell was way better than the rookie. Six minutes from time, he brought Simmons back – and Boston made the decisive run.