NBA: 22-point comeback!

The Boston Celtics (34-10) once again showed their comeback qualities and won against the Philadelphia 76ers (19-20) with 114:103. At the London Game Celtics were at times 22 points behind. Ben Simmons and Marcus Morris fought it out.

Both teams competed in the usual starting fives as Al Horford and Joel Embiid both got fit in time. It was also Embiid who gave a short speech together with Kyrie Irving and introduced himself to the London fans – of course with the usual addition “Trust the Process” at the end.

The Sixers got off to a better start. In the beginning minutes, J. J. escaped. Redick equalled his defender Jaylen Brown three times and took Philly to the 9-2 lead with 7 points, to which Brad Stevens responded with a time-out. His team also woke up briefly, but the first half clearly belonged to the Sixers. The significant play was an embiid block against Irving, but Redick with 18 and Ben Simmons with 12 points were mainly responsible for the 57:48 lead at the break.

Meanwhile, Philly had even been ahead with 22 points before Boston was able to cut back a bit towards the end of the first half, as Brown (14 points) in particular became stronger and stronger. And the Celtics then took this momentum with them – after the break it was suddenly a completely different game. Jayson Tatum, still invisible in the first half with 2 points, hung up 9 points at the beginning of the third quarter, and a Dunk from Daniel Theis brought Boston the 69:68 lead after six minutes.

And the “guests” didn’t give them up afterwards either. On the contrary, when Boston first started running, there was very little resistance from the Sixers. Boston quickly expanded a six-point advantage over the last quarter to 17 points, and the Sixers didn’t really come within striking distance after that.

However, there was an excitement in the final phase, when Simmons and Marcus Morris got together and a pack was formed. The Celtics-Forward got a technical one, with which it was still quite well served, after that the Celtics drove the victory home without worries.

Top scorer Bostons was Brown with 21 points, Irving played 20. Morris scored 19 points, Tatum scored 16 points. Theis came to 19 minutes and scored 6 points (3/3 FG), 7 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block. Redick became the top scorer in the sixers with 22 points, Simmons came in 16 and Embiid finished the game with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

76s vs. Celtics: Click here for the BOXSCORE!

Jaylen Brown. The Sophomore was the only Celtic in the first half that showed consistently good performances, but in the second half it extended to the whole team. Brown played a strong defence after the first quarter, partly also against Simmons, and scored well in front (8/15 FG). It was therefore no coincidence that he had the best plus/minus rating of all players (+34) in the end.

Robert Covington. It wasn’t the day of the three-and-d specialist. Covington was logged out at the front (5 points, 2/8 FG) and was not always as defensive as you are used to.

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Sometimes it’s best not to change anything: At halftime one, Tatum and Baynes were quite weak for Boston and straight Tatum played much less than usual at 10 minutes, as Stevens desperately searched for formations that worked a little better. After the break, however, the coach returned to his starting five – and Tatum paid it back. The rookie returned with 11 points and played a major role in getting the Celtics Offense back on track.