Celtics will face Toronto for a place in the Eastern final after the Raptors completed the clean sweep over the Nets
Monday 24 August 2020 06:19, UK
The Boston Celtics are the first team into the NBA Playoffs Eastern Conference semi-finals after beating the Philadelphia 76ers 110-106 to complete a 4-0 series win.
Kemba Walker's game-high 32 points and a 14-point run bridging the third and fourth quarters led to Boston's victory at the Walt Disney World Complex near Orlando.
The third-seeded Celtics, beaten in the East semi-finals by Milwaukee last year, move into the same stage this year where they will face the Toronto Raptors after they wrapped up a 4-0 series win over the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday night.
Jayson Tatum finished with 28 points, including seven in the final 3:05 of the third period, during which the Celtics broke from a 77-all tie to take an 89-77 advantage into the fourth quarter.
Enes Kanter opened the fourth quarter with a hoop to complete a 14-0 run, and when Tatum connected from 3-point range with 9:57 remaining, the Celtics had broken the game open at 96-79.
The sixth-seeded 76ers got no closer than 10 after that until the final seconds.
Walker's 32 points came on 8-for-15 shooting overall and 4-for-9 from 3-point range. The Celtics outscored the 76ers 36-27 on threes.
Tatum completed a double-double with a game-high 15 rebounds for Boston, while Jaylen Brown contributed 16 points and Daniel Theis 15 to the win.
Tatum, Brown and Theis all added two 3-pointers each.
Seeking to avoid a first-round playoff elimination for the first time since 2011, the 76ers led by as many as six in the first quarter and retained a 58-57 advantage at the break.
However they were left on the wrong end of a postseason sweep as Boston rallied to complete their first sweep over the 76ers since the Syracuse Nationals relocated to Philadelphia in 1964.
Joel Embiid led the way for the 76ers with 30 points, but misfired on four of his five 3-point attempts. Philadelphia shot just 9-for-34 (26.5 percent) from beyond the arc.
Tobias Harris had 20 points, Josh Richardson and Shake Milton 14 apiece, Alec Burks 13 and Al Horford 12 for the 76ers, who played the series without injured All-Star guard Ben Simmons. Embiid and Horford both completed double-doubles with a team-high 10 rebounds.
