Celtics Rout 76ers, Advance to NBA East Finals

The Boston Celtics—Philadelphia 76ers NBA playoff series came down to a winner take all Game 7 on May 14th, but an absolutely dominating second half performance by the Celtics in the decisive game has Boston advancing to the Eastern Conference final for the second straight year. The final score was 112-88.

Boston held Philadelphia to just 10 points in the third quarter, while scoring 33. Jayson Tatum scored 17 of those 33 himself, and the Celtics forward scored 51 in the game, a record for a Game 7 in NBA playoff history. Jaylen Brown added 25 for Boston and Malcom Brogdon scored 12 off the bench. Tobias Harris led the 76ers with 19 points. League MVP Joel Embiid was 5-18 from the field and scored just 15 points after averaging 33.1 in the regular season. James Harden was held to nine points; he had scored 42 in Game 5. It was the fifth time out of the last six years that Philadelphia was beaten in the conference semifinals, and third year in a row. Sixers coach Doc Rivers lost his 10th Game 7; that’s five more than any other NBA coach. He’s won just six times.

Boston will host Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals starting on May 17th. The Celtics opponent will be the surprising Miami Heat, who just made the post season as the #8 seed, but have been playing nothing like that in the playoffs. Last season, the Heat were the top seed in the East, and faced #2 Boston in the East finals. The Celtics won that series in seven games to advance to the NBA Finals, where they lost to Golden State. The Denver Nuggets will host the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 1 of the Western Conference final on May 16th.