76ers even series
- The 76ers beat the Celtics 111-97 to tie that first-round series at 1-1. (x.com) - Tyrese Maxey and rookie VJ Edgecombe combined for 59 points and 11 made threes, with Edgecombe notable for a 30+/10+ line. ( ) - Boston's role players were criticized for failing to adjust, a narrative picked up in local punditry and podcasts. ( )
Philadelphia went into Boston on April 21 and beat the Celtics 111-97, erasing a 32-point Game 1 loss and tying the first-round series at 1-1. (nba.com) Tyrese Maxey scored 29 points with nine assists, and rookie VJ Edgecombe added 30 points and 10 rebounds in just his second playoff game. Philadelphia hit 19 of 39 three-pointers after making only 4 of 23 from deep in Game 1. (nba.com) Boston led 26-13 after a 16-0 first-quarter run, but the 76ers answered with a 10-0 burst and then pulled away for good with an 11-0 run in the fourth quarter. Jaylen Brown scored 36 points, and Jayson Tatum finished with 19 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists. (nba.com) The swing in the series was sharp because Game 1 had looked one-sided: Boston won 123-91 on April 19, and most public predictions had the Celtics advancing in four or five games. After two games, the series average had tightened to 110.0 points per game for Boston and 101.0 for Philadelphia. (nba.com) (nbcsportsboston.com) Edgecombe’s night changed the shape of the matchup because it gave Philadelphia a second perimeter scorer next to Maxey while Joel Embiid remained out. The 76ers said Embiid missed Game 2 as he continued strength and conditioning work after an appendectomy on April 9. (nba.com) The rookie’s stat line also put him in rare company. According to the 76ers, Edgecombe became the first rookie with a 30-point, 10-rebound playoff game since Tim Duncan in 1998 and the youngest player to post that line in the postseason. (nba.com) Boston’s supporting cast became part of the immediate postgame scrutiny. The Celtics’ own game recap noted that, outside Brown and Tatum, no other Boston player reached double figures, after local coverage had highlighted the bench as a strength coming out of Game 1. (nba.com) (masslive.com) That criticism also spread through Boston’s media ecosystem, where NBC Sports Boston and 98.5 The Sports Hub both pushed playoff reaction and Celtics-focused podcast coverage in the hours around the loss. The argument was less about Tatum or Brown than whether Boston’s rotation players could answer Philadelphia’s shotmaking before the series moved south. (nbcsportsboston.com) (985thesportshub.com) Now the series shifts to Philadelphia for Game 3 on Friday, April 24, with the Celtics no longer holding the cushion that Game 1 seemed to create. Two nights after Boston looked in control, the matchup is back to best-of-five. (nba.com)
