Celtics‑76ers split
- The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Boston Celtics 111‑97 to tie their first‑round series 1‑1. (x.com) - Jaylen Brown scored 36 points for Boston, while Philadelphia’s backcourt combined for 59 points. (x.com) - The Game 2 result pivoted the series momentum and highlighted both teams’ half‑court strengths and weaknesses. (youtube.com)
Philadelphia took back home-court advantage on April 21, beating Boston 111-97 at TD Garden to even the first-round series at 1-1. (nba.com) V.J. Edgecombe scored 30 points with 10 rebounds, and Tyrese Maxey added 29 points and nine assists for the 76ers. Jaylen Brown kept Boston close with 36 points, while Jayson Tatum finished with 19 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists. (espn.com) The swing came from the arc and from ball security. Philadelphia hit 19 of 39 three-pointers and scored 16 points off 13 Boston turnovers, while the Celtics shot 13 of 47 from deep and 39.3% overall. (nba.com) Boston briefly cut the deficit to 91-89 early in the fourth quarter, but Philadelphia answered with an 11-0 run to push the lead to 102-89 with a little more than four minutes left. The Celtics pulled their starters with just over a minute remaining. (espn.com) The result flipped a series that looked lopsided 48 hours earlier. Boston had won Game 1, 123-91, before Philadelphia responded in Game 2 behind its guards and outside shooting. (nba.com) (espn.com) That matters in this matchup because both teams can bog down into half-court possessions, where clean three-point looks and guard creation decide stretches quickly. In Game 2, Maxey and Edgecombe created enough offense to offset Boston’s size and Brown’s scoring. (nba.com) Philadelphia did it again without Joel Embiid, who missed Game 2 while continuing strength and conditioning work after an appendectomy on April 9. The 76ers got enough frontcourt minutes from Adem Bona and enough perimeter scoring to survive without their center. (espn.com) Edgecombe’s night carried extra weight because he twice left for treatment after hard falls and still returned both times. According to the Associated Press recap carried by NBA.com and ESPN, he became the first rookie with at least 30 points and 10 rebounds in a playoff game since Tim Duncan on May 5, 1998. (nba.com) (espn.com) Brown said after the game that Edgecombe was “too comfortable,” and Boston’s numbers backed that up. Outside of Brown and Tatum, no Celtic reached double figures in a game that exposed how thin Boston’s offense looked once Philadelphia took away easy rhythm threes. (espn.com) (sports.yahoo.com) The series now moves to Philadelphia for Game 3 on Friday, April 24. After one Boston blowout and one Philadelphia road win, the opener in South Philadelphia will decide which version of this matchup holds up away from TD Garden. (nba.com)
