Boston Celtics win ugly in game-three against Sixers

The Boston Celtics find themselves up 3-0 after a hard-fought victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Boston Celtics struggled through a game-three win on Friday night, defeating the Philadelphia  76ers by a score of 102-94. With this victory, Boston took a 3-0 lead in the series, setting up for a sweep this upcoming Sunday.

Kemba Walker led the C’s with 24 points in 35 minutes, including the dagger over Al Horford with just over a minute left. While the Celtics offense struggled, Kemba found a way to get to his spots and provide reliable points when needed.

He shot 10-20 from the field, 3-8 from distance, grabbed eight rebounds, and played one of his best defensive games as a Celtic. He may lack size when attempting to guard the opposition, but he tries on every play, a trait that’s not often seen from modern-day All-Star point guards.

For his last basket, Walker found himself on a switch versus Horford. He went to the left-wing, faked a drive, stepped back, and drained the 18-footer to put Boston up four. On a night where Jayson Tatum was off his game, the All-NBA guard proved that he can still come up clutch late in games for his team, tapping into his college days as “Cardiac Kemba.”

Jaylen Brown played a team-high 42 minutes, scoring 21 points on 6-16 from the field. With Tatum getting into foul trouble early, both Brown and Marcus Smart soaked up lots his minutes.

He was good at attacking the rim, finding himself at the free-throw line for nine attempts, but couldn’t find his shooting touch, finishing 1-5 from beyond the arc. There were multiple instances where a key shot from Brown would put the game away, but he couldn’t seem to hit it. However, he made the adjustments to put an emphasis on attacking Joel Embiid, and found great success.

After setting his career playoff-high in points just last game, Tatum had his worst playoff game of the season, shooting 6-19 from the field for 15 points. He was never able to get into a rhythm, as he picked up his third foul at the end of the first quarter, causing him to sit on the bench for the rest of the half.

With a player like Tatum, who relies on his shot as his main source of offense, sitting on the bench for extended periods of time can hurt immensely. On the defensive end, he remained sharp as a help defender, recording four blocks, one against Embiid at the end of the game to help seal the game for the Boston Celtics.

Smart, in his second playoff start in the bubble, had a stat line of 14 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and three steals. Although he couldn’t find his shot from outside, he continued to make winning plays, grabbing an incredible steal and finding Jaylen Brown for the pass mid-air, leading to an and-one on the other end.

Like Brown, he also attacked the basket, as the Boston Celtics overall shot 8-31 (25.8%) from three on the game. With Smart guarding the best opposing players besides Embiid, it’s hard for them to make anything happen of worth on the offensive end.

Daniel Theis saw extended time this game, after Enes Kanter took the majority of the minutes in game-two. He ended up getting cooked by Embiid, ultimately fouling out in 26 minutes with only eight points. The war on Theis continues, as many of the calls made by referee Scott Foster were questionable, but nonetheless, they were called.

In total, the Sixers went 29-34 from the line, while Boston had 10 fewer attempts.

Kanter provided good minutes off the bench and filled in for Theis when he fouled out with 3 minutes left. He finished with six points and six rebounds in only 14 minutes and played solid post defense against the Philadelphia offense.

For the Sixers, they struggled to get much offensive production besides Embiid. He finished with 30 points and 13 rebounds, scoring 14 of such from the line. Josh Richardson, Tobias Harris, Shake Milton, and Alec Burks scored a combined 58 points, but on horrible efficiency (20-64).

As a team, the Sixers shot 28-95 (29.5%).

The only reason they were in the game is because they crashed the glass, grabbing 20 offensive rebounds compared to the Celtics’ whopping three. This led to many more second-chance points, but they simply could not convert, leading to a third straight loss.

If Philadelphia wants to avoid the sweep, they’re going to need to find offensive production from somewhere besides their superstar big man. With the exquisite perimeter defense from the Boston Celtics, it might not be so easy.