The trio of Terry Rozier, Jayson Tatum and Al Horford combined for 83 points as the host Boston Celtics beat the Philadelphia 76ers 117-101 in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series Monday night.
Rozier scored a career-playoff-high 29 points with eight rebounds and six assists, Tatum had a personal-playoff-best 28 points and Horford tied his career playoff scoring mark with 26 as the Celtics took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
"My confidence is everything. My teammates believe in me, my coaches believe in me, so you know I just want to keep it going," Rozier told TNT after besting his prior career playoff high in Game 7 against Milwaukee by three points.
Joel Embiid had 31 points, 13 rebounds and five assists to lead Philadelphia. JJ Redick scored 20, and Ben Simmons totaled 18 points, seven boards and six assists with seven turnovers for the 76ers, who suffered their second loss since March 13.
Game 2 is Thursday night in Boston.
Boston beat the Milwaukee Bucks in a seven-game, first-round series to advance. Philadelphia eliminated the Miami Heat in five games.
It's the first postseason matchup between the 76ers and Celtics since the 2011-12 East semifinals, when Boston beat Philadelphia in seven games. That was the 76ers' last second-round playoff appearance before this season.
The Celtics won three of four regular-season games against the 76ers, outscoring them by 23 points collectively. But all four matchups came before the All-Star break and before Boston star Kyrie Irving's season-ending injury.
Boston's Jaylen Brown (right hamstring strain) missed the game despite being a game-time decision. Brown, who is the Celtics' second-leading scorer (17.9) this postseason, was injured in Saturday's Game 7 against Milwaukee.
Marcus Smart beat Embiid to a rebound and converted an acrobatic three-point play with 40.9 seconds left in the third quarter, putting the Celtics up by 17. But the 76ers pulled within 87-75 entering the fourth.
Philadelphia was unable to get the deficit below eight in the fourth.
Boston led 56-45 at halftime after leading by as many as 13 in the second quarter. The Celtics were up 25-22 after the first.
Legendary Celtics center Bill Russell attended the game and sat courtside.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
