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The Philadelphia 76ers battled the Boston Celtics for the fourth and final time this season on Tuesday. Philly hoped to tie the season series if they could get a win over their archnemesis. To grab the victory, they would have to do it without injured players Joel Embiid and Robert Covington.
Boston has been on a roll, having won their last eight games. A victory over the Sixers will extend their winning streak, hand them the season series over Philadelphia and improve their NBA-best record to 46-12. The Celtics are healthy and look ready to pound on their visitors.
A hot start from Tyrese Maxey, who dropped 17 first-half points kept the Sixers in the game. Tobias Harris and Buddy Hield also did well to prevent the Celtics from building a big lead. Philadelphia’s bench provided 18 badly needed points.
Jaylen Brown was just as hot as Maxey, scoring 18 points while Jayson Tatum had 12. Kristaps Porzingis had nine to emphasize the dominance of Boston’s starters. The bench, however, was inept, contributing just six points. The Celtics entered the halftime break leading only 53-51.
Tyrese Maxey continued his onslaught in the third quarter, adding 13 more points to his total. Brown cooling off a bit, it was Porzingis turn to torch the Sixers. The Latvian had 12 in the third period to lead Boston to an 86-75 lead. Like in the first half, the Celtics couldn't pull away due to the lack of contribution from the bench.
The Philadelphia 76ers came out strong in the early part of the fourth quarter, promptly cutting the Boston Celtics lead to two points. Jayson Tatum, however, finally came stepped up in the final period. After only two points in the third, he quickly had six points in retaliation to keep Philly at bay.
The game continued to be a battle between Tyrese Maxey and Philadelphia's bench versus Boston's starters. Slowly but steadily, the Celtics' superior unit began to put more distance between the two teams. Derrick White was the only starter who couldn't get more than 10 points but he had superb impact with his defense and playmaking.
If not for the Philadelphia 76ers bench decimating their Boston Celtics counterpart 45-15 this would have been a rout right from the start. In the end, the Celtics rolled to their ninth straight win behind impressive play from their first unit. Boston's 117-99 victory improved its record to 46-12 while Philadelphia dropped to 33-25.
Philadelphia 76ers vs Boston Celtics game player stats and box scores
Philadelphia 76ers game player stats
Boston Celtics game player stats
