RECAP: Philadelphia 76ers 89, Boston Celtics 80
After blowing a 22-point lead last week in London, the Philadelphia 76ers bounced back with a hard-fought win in Boston.
The Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Boston Celtics 89-80 at TD Garden on Thursday night. It was the first win of the season for Philly against Boston, after falling to the Celtics in their two previous matchups.
Even with Celtics’ All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving out, this was a good win for the Sixers against the team with the best record in the East. Joel Embiid led all scorers with 26 points while grabbing a game-high 16 rebounds, giving him 19 double-doubles this season.
The Sixers also received a 15 points from T.J. McConnell off the bench, making four-consecutive field goals late in the third quarter.
Defensively the Sixers held Boston to just 30-of-74 (40.5 percent) shooting from the floor, including a dismal 24.1 percent from three. They also forced Boston 19 turnovers and scored 24 points off of them.
Although the Celtics forced the Sixers into 25 turnovers their offense struggled, especially rookie Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, combined to make eight of their 23 field-goal attempts (34.8 percent).
Philly has won five of its last six games and is above .500 for the first time in five weeks at 21-20.
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Sixers Finally Get a Win Against Their Rival
If you are a Sixers fan you are definitely pleased after pulling this one out, especially considering how Philly blew a 22-point lead to Boston just last week in London.
Even in the fourth quarter I am sure there were many Sixers’ fans holding their breath as they saw a 21-point lead be cut to just seven points with 2:01 remaining in the game. Luckily the Celtics missed some good looks late and Philly made some key free throws to come away with the victory.
There’s nothing like defeating your rival on their home court regardless of who’s playing so it will be interesting to see if Philly rides this momentum over the next few games.
They host the Milwaukee Bucks Saturday at 7:30 E.T. in Wells Fargo Center.
Next: Covington must step up for the Sixers