Jayson Tatum had 23 points on Tuesday night, as the Boston Celtics opened up their 2018-19 regular season by pulling away from the Philadelphia 76ers for a 105-87 win at TD Garden in Boston.
Philadelphia (0-1) took an early four point lead in the first quarter as Boston started out cold from the floor, but the Celtics used a 10-0 run to take a six point lead at 14-8 and never trailed again. After the first quarter ended 21-21, Boston (1-0) ran off nine straight points to begin the second quarter finished off by a Tatum layup to extend to the biggest first half lead at 30-21. The 76ers got within a pair several times late in the half, but trailed 47-42 at the break.
The Celtics went up 14 in the third quarter on a Tatum dunk, scoring 14 of the first 19 points of the second half, before the 76ers responded with a 10-0 run of their own to cut it to 61-57. A Marcus Morris tip in extended back to a 77-66 lead after three, and Philadelphia never got closer than 10 the rest of the way.
Tatum shot 9-17 from the field, and added nine rebounds and three assists. Morris ended with a double double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Jaylen Brown had 12 points, five rebounds, and two assists. Terry Rozier added 11 points and eight rebounds off the bench. Gordon Hayward, who only played five minutes with his new team last season before breaking his leg, looked good and scored 10 points, had five rebounds, and four steals in 24 minutes. Kyrie Irving, also returning from injury that forced him to miss the final 22 games of the regular season and the entire playoffs last season had seven points and four rebounds in 29 minutes. The Celtics shot 43 percent from the floor on the night, including 11-37 from three point range.
Joel Embiid also had a double double with 23 points and 10 rebounds in the loss for Philadelphia. Ben Simmons also got into the act with a double double falling two assists short of a triple double with 19 points, 15 rebounds, eight assists, and four steals. JJ Reddick added 16 points. The 76ers shot 39 percent for the night, and only 5-26 from three point territory.
Boston will head to the road for first time on Friday, when they head North to battle the Toronto Raptors at 8 pm.
