The Celtics walked off the courtroom indignant and pissed off after giving up home-court benefit of their series-opening loss to the 76ers.
Boston known as on these feelings — and its defence — to dominate in Game 2.
Jaylen Brown scored 25 factors and the Celtics rolled previous Philadelphia 121-87 on Wednesday night time, spoiling the return of latest league MVP Joel Embiid.
The Celtics tied the collection at one sport apiece because the Eastern Conference semifinal collection shifts to Philadelphia for Game 3 on Friday.
“I feel we have simply obtained to take extra pleasure in ourselves. That’s it,” Brown mentioned. “I simply really feel like we underperformed final sport. We needed to come back out and play to the very best of our potential. And that is what we did.”
Malcolm Brogdon added 23 factors, connecting on six of Boston’s 20 three-pointers. Derrick White and Marcus Smart added 15 factors apiece. Jayson Tatum performed a lot of the sport in foul bother and was held to seven factors.
Boston ratcheted up its defence and restricted a visiting 76ers workforce that hit 17 three-pointers in its Game 1 win to only six of 30 from past the arc on Wednesday. The Celtics led by as many as 36 factors within the fourth quarter.
Jaylen Brown (25 PTS, 4 AST, 2 STL) with a powerful efficiency because the <a href=”https://twitter.com/celtics?ref_src=twsrcpercent5Etfw”>@celtics</a> take Game 2!<br><br>The collection shifts to Philadelphia tied at 1-1 🍿<br><br>BOS/PHI Game 3: Friday, 7:30pm/et on ESPN <a href=”https://t.co/gswttKOMhy”>pic.twitter.com/gswttKOMhy</a>
—@NBA
Brogdon mentioned their cost now’s to take care of the identical mindset going ahead.
“It does not imply something if there is not any carryover,” he mentioned.
Tobias Harris led the 76ers with 16 factors. Embiid completed with 15 factors, three rebounds and 5 blocks in his first sport again from a sprained proper knee that induced him to overlook the ultimate sport of the 76ers’ first-round sweep of Brooklyn. He additionally sat out Philadelphia’s Game 1 win on Monday.
James Harden, who tied his post-season profession excessive with 45 factors in Game 1, missed all six three-pointers and shot 2 for 14 total whereas ending with 12 factors and 10 rebounds.
Embiid’s return got here a day after being voted MVP for the primary time.
He was cleared to play by docs and coaching employees following a pre-game, on-court exercise. That was after he did some mild work in the course of the 76ers’ morning shootaround.
Embiid mentioned he was advised it may take 4 to 6 weeks for his damage to heal and the chance to take a 2-0 lead in the end made him need to play, even when there was rust.
“I felt fairly good to play and I felt like I may assist the workforce,” he mentioned. “I really feel like I simply obtained this out the way in which. Disappointed by the loss. But that is a step towards getting again to myself.”
Tatum picked up three fouls within the first half. He was known as for his fourth on the 7:34 mark of the third quarter when he knocked Harden to the ground whereas attempting to battle via a display.
It pressured him to play rather less aggressively and helped Philadelphia minimize what had been an 18-point Boston result in 73-60 with simply over 4 minutes to play within the third quarter.
But Tatum’s teammates picked up the slack, main the way in which because the Celtics closed the quarter on a 19-5 run to get it again as much as 92-65 coming into the fourth.
Malcolm Brogdon’s 23 factors (6-10 3PM) assist the <a href=”https://twitter.com/celtics?ref_src=twsrcpercent5Etfw”>@celtics</a> even the collection at 1-1!<br><br>BOS/PHI Game 3: Friday, 7:30pm/et on ESPN <a href=”https://t.co/HvyTuLC5HF”>pic.twitter.com/HvyTuLC5HF</a>
—@NBA
Embiid began slowly offensively, however with the 76ers struggling to make pictures from the surface, he made an virtually instant influence defensively.
First, he blocked an early shot by Smart after which pressured White to regulate one other try. Embiid had 5 blocks his first 13 minutes of motion.
But his conditioning was noticeably missing as he lumbered into units at occasions. He performed simply shy of seven minutes within the first quarter earlier than getting his first relaxation. He returned for the ultimate 1:05 of the interval.
Embiid knocked down his first area aim of the night time. a jumper over Grant Williams, with 21.4 seconds left earlier than tripping as he backpedaled again down the courtroom. He shortly rose to his ft. He completed the primary half with 13 factors, going seven of eight from the free throw line.
Brown mentioned they anticipate to reach in Philadelphia and face a 76ers workforce motivated after dropping for the primary time this post-season.
“Hostile surroundings. But it must be enjoyable,” he mentioned. “We ought to all be excited to embrace that problem.”
