Powered by Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, Celtics overtake shorthanded Sixers

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla .– While the Boston Celtics have rebuilt their squad by contending for the Eastern Conference in recent years, they’ve done so around the idea that Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown will be the players. base of the franchise for years to come.

On Monday night, Tatum and Brown showed how that vision was starting to come to fruition. Tatum’s 32 points and 13 rebounds and Brown’s 29 points – including 15 in the fourth quarter – propelled Boston to a 109-101 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series in the bubble. NBA at Walt Disney. World Resort.

“We just have to fight,” Brown said afterward. “That’s what it comes down to. Who wants it most? Who wants to fight?

“Today we came out and we fought. We were the most physical team and we came out the winners. I was proud of us. We have to keep this fight going if we are to win this series.”

The Celtics needed all of Tatum and Brown’s exploits to survive against the 76ers, who got 26 points and 16 rebounds from Joel Embiid but were forced into 18 turnovers – which became 21 Celtics points – as Boston used his speed and athleticism defensively. to compensate for his lack of size against the much bigger Sixers.

Brown also relentlessly attacked former teammate Al Horford down the home stretch, including a key moment when Boston took the lead in earnest with a Brown-powered 6-0 run blown by Horford, which gave him the led Brown to conclude for a flagrant level one foul. Brown made both free throws, then led by Tobias Harris to win two more free throws, which he did.

When Philadelphia chose to stay with Horford in their starting lineup – as opposed to starting rookie Matisse Thybulle – she chose to try and use her size to punish Boston and hoped she would be able to take advantage of the fact that Brown was keeping it. Instead, it was the other way around, with Brown either shaking for 3 points – he shot 5-for-8 from deep – or using his speed to meander through defense for layups.

“Al is a great defenseman,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “And I think we do our best to try to get a good view every time on the court. We will continue to look for what we can do to play better on offense.”

A good place to start is to give the ball to your two young wings and get out of the way. Tatum scored 21 points in the first half – a career high in the playoffs – and finished with three blocks en route to a game high plus-19 in 41 minutes.

While Ben Simmons did a tremendous job stopping Tatum when the teams met during the regular season, keeping him to a field goal percentage of just 28% in those clashes – the second-worst mark for any player against a defenseman who kept them for over 30 hits, per second Spectrum’s tracking data – his absence was a big issue for the Sixers, as Tatum had no trouble getting to his spots.

It was especially noticeable late in the game when he was isolated against Josh Richardson on the wing and led to the rim and easily drew a foul, reversing two free throws to extend Boston’s lead to five with 41, 4 seconds to play.

“Yeah, he was really good,” Stevens said. “I thought he was amazing defensively the whole game, talking and helping, communicating and reading, and he just does a bunch of – he has a huge impact at that end. Then offensively he did. not feel like you got 32 at the end of the night.

“He’s just playing the game itself and finding the next good game. He’s done a lot of good things tonight.”

The Celtics will need more of that from their young wings if Gordon Hayward, who left the game late in the fourth quarter with a sprained right ankle, is out for any significant time. They still have to deal with the size mismatch on the inside against Embiid, who dominated early before Boston could invade the Philadelphia ball handlers and prevent him from recovering the ball – as well as rushing it and take the ball when he tried to post.

But Brown and Tatum have been here before. While both are on rookie contracts – Brown is in his fourth season and Tatum his third – both have won at least one playoff series each year, have been in the league, and both have made the finals. of the Eastern Conference. This experience was evident as they shut down the Sixers.

“Experience is everything,” Brown said. “He’s the best teacher. I’ve been fortunate enough to be at two Eastern Conference finals, so I feel like I bring a lot of experience. [Tatum] also participated in a conference finals so keep passing that on to our youngsters and play like you have been before. “

They did it on Monday. And after his first playoff game with them, point guard Kemba Walker saw everything he saw of his young teammates in his first season in Boston carry over to the playoffs.

“It’s special,” Walker said. “These two guys are super special talents. They showed it today. At every big moment, they made big bets. Whenever we needed a great game they did it.

“It’s just fun to watch. It’s really fun to be a part of their growth.”