And the Celtics just keep winning. Jason Tatum scored 24 points, and Al Horford made a key overtime steal to lead the Boston Celtics to a 101-98 win over the Philadelphia 76ers Saturday evening in game three of an NBA Eastern Conference semifinal series at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Boston leads the best of seven series 3-0.
The Celtics started well, and had a nine point advantage in the opening quarter, before the 76ers used a 12-2 run to take a 20-19 advantage. The Celtics opened the lead to 10 in the second, but once again the hosts had the answer taking a 51-48 halftime lead. A back and forth third quarter saw both teams holding the lead, and Boston taking a 69-68 lead into the fourth. Marco Bellinelli gave the 76ers an 87-85 lead with 41.2 seconds left with two free throws, before Bostons Jaylen Brown tied it with a layup with 24 seconds left. It looked like Brown had become the hero when his running layup went down after a steal with 1.8 seconds remaining to make it 89-87 Celtics. But Bellinelli sank a jumper at the buzzer to tie the game and send it to overtime. A premature celebration that the shot was a three pointer to win it for the 76ers spilled confetti onto the floor, but upon further review it was a two point shot.
The Celtics went down five early in overtime, before once again rallied. Tatum made a layup with 55 seconds left, and Horford knocked down one of two from the line to cut the deficit to 98-97 with 42 seconds remaining. After Ben Simmons missed a put back of a Joel Embiid miss, the Celtics grabbed the rebound and called timeout with 8.4 seconds on the clock. Horford then made a layup off the inbounds pass, sealing off Robert Covington with 5.5 seconds left to make it 99-98 Celtics. Horford then made a steal off a Simmons inbounds pass on the other end, and was fouled and made two free throws with 3.0 seconds left. Bellinellis three point attempt in the final seconds hit off the back of the rim, and Boston put Philadelphia on the brink of elimination.
Tatum added five rebounds and four assists to his point total for the C’s. Terry Rozier had 18 points, seven rebounds, and three assists. Brown had 16 points, nine rebounds, and two blocks. Horford had 13 points, six rebounds, two assists, two steals, and two blocks.
Embiid had 22 points and 19 rebounds for the 76ers. J.J. Reddick had 18 points. Simmons, after one point in game two, had 16 points, eight rebounds, eight assists, and two blocks. Ersan Ilayasova added 14 points, and Bellinelli finished with 12.
Boston goes for the four game sweep in Philadelphia Monday night at 6 pm. NBA teams leading a best of seven playoff series 3-0 are 129-0 all time.
