In the bubble playoffs this off season, the three seed Boston Celtics beat the six seed Philadelphia 76ers in four games. Although the Philadelphia 76ers won three out of the four regular season games and winning the season series, everyone knew the Boston Celtics were the favorites heading into this series.
In a game in the NBA bubble, the 76ers star injured his knee and walked off the court while in pain. Later that week, he was ruled out for the whole remainder of the season unless the 76ers made it deep into the playoffs which was unlikely without him.
In the 4th quarter of game 1, Gordon Hayward twisted his ankle after going up for a rebound. Later he was ruled out for 5 weeks, the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers had both lost a star starter.
The Philadelphia 76ers had a good lead early in game 1 but the Boston Celtics managed to cut it off to make it a 1 point game in favor of the 76ers. Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics had a great end to the half making it a 6 point lead for the Celtics, in the second half, the game was back and fourth but the Celtics and gone ahead and won it with Jayson Tatum preforming like a superstar. Joel Embiid and Shake Milton also had great games.
In game 2, the 76ers came off with a good early lead but blew it again to lose by a massive tots of 27. Joel Embiid and Jayson Tatum were the main performers from their teams but Tobias Harris was still in a slump and had only managed to put up thirteen points on the board for the 76ers on fourteen shots. Kemba Walker also had a great game scoring 22 points on 50% from the field.
Game 3 was a similar story, it was back and forth all game and Joel Embiid had dropped a massive thirty point game and looked like he was the only player from the 76ers even trying to win the game. Although, this game the 76ers played better defense on Jayson Tatum but Tobias Harris was still stuck in his slump scoring fifteen points in his nineteen shot attempts from the field.
Game 4 was a roller coaster, the first half, it looked like the 76ers actually came to play, but then Tobias Harris who was getting over his slump had fallen to the ground and had a facial injury. Luckily, it wasn’t very bad and he returned in the fourth quarter. The 76ers were down by twelve points at the end of the third quarter, tried to pull it back but couldn’t. The Celtics had swept the 76ers.
Overall, it was a below average performance from the Philadelphia 76ers but Joel Embiid played great, we needed to find a way to guard the young superstar in Jayson Tatum, needed to make smart plays resulting in good shots and most importantly we needed to hold leads. The Boston Celtics played great but the 76ers will be back next season.
Trust The Process.
Philadelphia Sports Chronicle 