The Boston Celtics are in the Eastern Conference Finals! In their fifth game against the Philadelphia 76ers, they narrowly won 114-112 and in a wild final phase Philly made too many mistakes again, while the Celtics remained calm.
The Celtics had to announce another injury: Rotation player Shane Larkin will be out of action indefinitely with shoulder problems. In addition, Jaylen Brown returned to the Starting Five, Marcus Smart came from the bank. The guests did not make any changes compared to game 4 – so TJ McConnell was allowed to play again from the beginning.
Philly got off to a better start. Above all Ben Simmons managed to exploit his economies of scale and score points on the board thanks to clever cuts. On the other hand, individual actions from Brown or Al Horford had to start the offensive. After 10 minutes, TD Garden woke up when Smart and Jayson Tatum completed a two-man alley-oop fast break. 26:25 for the Celtics after the first quarter.
In the second, Tatum took the helm for the Celtics and scored from all positions. However, the Sixers were not impressed – Joel Embiid scored several times over Baynes from half distance. The fans saw an offensive exchange of blows with high throwing odds in this phase, without anyone dropping out – until Baynes met a corner three-pointer, Tatum followed up with a coast-to-coast drive and Terry Rozier sunk a three-pointer with the half-time buzzer: 61:52.
This lead initially remained constant after the page change. Both teams had to work hard for their points, simple wins were in short supply. Then Philly once managed to generate several stops in a row, but on the other side left chances off the free-throw line. Nevertheless, they stalked towards 4 points because Dario Saric sunk one of the few Sixers threesomes. The next triple followed a few minutes later by Marco Belinelli: Only 83:82 after three quarters.
In the final section, Robert Covington, who was pale before, took the Sixers into the lead with a three-pointer, and Boston now left some chances close to the board. After a Stevens time-out, Horford took responsibility and scored points from the post office, Rozier added by Fastbreak-Layup – plus 6 Boston. But the answer came immediately: With Embiid as a fixed point in the mail, Philly took the lead and momentum. The strong Saric hit a very important threesome.
1:30 minutes before the end the teams alternated with highlights. Saric hit a layup with his back to the basket, Horford answered with a cracking alley-oop (107:109). Smart’s entrance: He put a putback in the front and a Saric loss in the back, which Tatum converted into points in the front. With 20 seconds left on the clock, the goblins led 111:109, Brett Brown took a time-out, the ball went to Embiid, who missed against Baynes. Afterwards, the ball bounced from his knee into the out, ball possession Boston. Rozier was sent to the line, hitting both of them at the four-point lead.
The Sixers didn’t have a timeout anymore, but still managed a wild Redick threesome (4.1 seconds). Next was Smart on the line, who hit the second roll. Simmons then tried a full court inbound pass – but Smart intercepted it. Game!
Top scorer of the Celtics was Tatum with 25 points (8/15 FG), Brown came in at 24, Horford at 15, best man at Philly was Embiid (27 points, 12 rebounds, 4 blocks), Saric also set 27 points.
For the second time in a row, the Celtics will be in the Conference Finals, where they will meet the Cleveland Cavaliers again. The series starts on Sunday at 9.30 pm (live on SPOX & DAZN).
Boston Celtics v Philadelphia 76ers 114:112, Series 4:1 (BOXSCORE)
Al Horford. When the game was over, he took responsibility and put his team back on track with two strong post-plays. He also managed to defend effectively despite his four fouls, even though Embiid kept trying to commit further fouls. With two great alley-oops he also delivered Momentum Changers. Also strong: Tatum and Smart.
JJ Redick. His wild threesome in the final stage came too late. The veteran gave away many open throws that could have tipped the game. In addition, he did not succeed in bringing calm into the Sixers Open in critical phases. That he was identified as a defensive weak point and repeatedly pushed under the basket by stronger guards is nothing new either.
Al Horford did not make the most striking game of his playoffs this year. But in Crunchtime Stevens trusted him: The most important offensive posessions always ran through him after a break. He repaid this with important points. Also strong: One minute before the end, the Celtics’ defensive rotation away from the ball prevented Embiid from being played. Instead, Saric had to play the poisonous Smart – and lost the ball.