POST GAME PHILLY - PLAYOFFS - ROUND 2 - GAME #1 - HOME

Celtics Wrap: Terry Rozier Drops 29 Points In Game 1 Win Over 76ers

NESN by Logan Mullen on Mon, Apr 30, 2018 at 10:37PM

BOSTON — The second round is off to a swell start for the Boston Celtics. In Game 1 of their second-round NBA playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers, the C’s cruised to a 117-101 victory at TD Garden on Monday night. Terry Rozier led Celtics scorers with 29 points. Jayson Tatum (28), Al Horford (26) and Marcus Morris (11) also tallied double digits. Joel Embiid was one of five Sixers in double figures, registering a game-high 31 points. The Celtics earned the victory without one of their top performers this postseason, Jaylen Brown, who was ruled out shortly before the game due to a right hamstring strain sustained in Game 1. Here’s how it all went down:

STARTING FIVE PG: Terry Rozier SG: Marcus Smart SF: Jayson Tatum PF: Al Horford C: Aron Baynes

CLOSE FIRST Both teams strung together some quality possessions in the latter part of the first period, with the Celtics ending the first 12 minutes ahead 25-22. A good portion of the quarter was spent with the two sides playing fairly even, but with the Celtics up by one and four minutes left in the frame, they heated up and created some separation. Boston went on a 7-0 run over 48 seconds to go ahead by eight. But in the final minutes, the Sixers cut into Boston’s advantage, scoring nine of the final 13 points. The Celtics struggled with some defensive breakdowns early, leading to plenty of wide-open looks for the Sixers. Philly struggled to capitalize on those chances, however, which allowed the game to stay tight. Rozier had a game-high 10 first-quarter points.

C’S OPEN IT UP After a close first few minutes of the second quarter, the Celtics opened the game up as they went into the half with a 56-45 lead. The most important stretch of the half came with the game locked at 33 with just under seven minutes to go. The Celtics strung together a 10-0 run over 2:17 to give themselves the biggest advantage of the game to that point, with Horford being responsible for eight of the 10 points during that stretch. Embiid became more of an issue for the Celtics in the second, as the 76ers fed the star big man the ball in the paint more frequently. Aron Baynes nor Horford could body Embiid in the paint as he finished the quarter with eight points on 3-for-7 shooting. Tatum went into the half with a game-high 16 points.

EVEN THIRD Like most stages of the game the majority of the third was a fairly even affair, with the C’s going into the fourth ahead 87-75 after outscoring Philly 31-30 in the third. Both teams had a few opportunities to build a little bit of a run, but each time it was countered with a timely shot or series of possessions to keep things level. In keeping things even, it allowed the Celtics to continue leading comfortably with the advantage they built in the first half, with their lead never remotely being jeopardized in the quarter. J.J. Reddick did give the Sixers a slight boost at the end of the frame, however, knocking down a pair of treys in the final 31 seconds to cut Boston’s lead down to 12 heading into the final quarter. Embiid had 11 points in the third, trailed by Smart and Horford with nine apiece.

BOSTON CLOSES THE DOOR Boston’s lead never was in doubt in the fourth, as the Celtics outscored the Sixers 30-26 in the fourth quarter to seal the deal. The theme from the third quarter bled into the fourth, as the Sixers never really showed enough fight to allow them to make a push at wiping the Celtics’ lead. That was made equally difficult by the fact that Boston continued to hit important shots and playing tight defense, never allowing Philly to build any sort of momentum.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE NIGHT Impressive move and impressive finish.

UP NEXT The two teams will meet for Game 2 on Thursday night. Tip from TD Garden is set for 8:30 p.m. ET

112288

BEST GAME OF THE SEASON PLAYED BY THE CELTICS!

Ball movement - physical - great passing - smart shot selection!

For those who do not believe Terry Rozier cannot be the starting point guard for the Celtics for the next 5 years..................THINK AGAIN!

This kid is a great shooter, passer and flat out can motor down the court!

112288

Hi,
Celtics' will and shooting did 76ers in.
On the dark side allowing 100+ points isn't a good sign but absence of JB is a valid excuse, I'd say. Hopefully he'll be back by Thursday.

AK

From the Philly coverage:

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/sixers/boston-celtics-rough-up-sixers-117-101-in-game-1-20180430.html

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/sixers/joel-embiid-ben-simmons-sixers-76ers-nba-playoffs-game-1-boston-celtics-20180501.html

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/sixers/sixers-76ers-nba-playoffs-celtics-game-1-rivalry-joel-embiid-terry-rozier-ben-simmons-jayson-tatum-20180430.html

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/sixers/sixer-76ers-nba-playoffs-117-101-loss-game-1-joel-embiid-robert-covington-terry-rozier-20180430.html

sinus007 wrote:Hi,
Celtics' will and shooting did 76ers in.
On the dark side allowing 100+ points isn't a good sign but absence of JB is a valid excuse, I'd say. Hopefully he'll be back by Thursday.

AK

Don't bet on Jaylen being back for Thursday.

sinus007 wrote:Hi,
Celtics' will and shooting did 76ers in.
On the dark side allowing 100+ points isn't a good sign but absence of JB is a valid excuse, I'd say. Hopefully he'll be back by Thursday.

AK

I`m not worried about the D. I think it was fine. We kept the Euro brigade from hitting threes . Joel and Simmons can`t beat Celts by themselves. The pace of the game dictated that they would score some points .It wasn`t a grinder. My concern is that there will be a game when they are hitting 3s and we are missing . I think we are far better than them at perimeter defense though , and outside of two guys, far more athletic. What the h is going on with Fultz  now? So glad we got Tatum.

jrleftfoot wrote:

sinus007 wrote:Hi,
Celtics' will and shooting did 76ers in.
On the dark side allowing 100+ points isn't a good sign but absence of JB is a valid excuse, I'd say. Hopefully he'll be back by Thursday.

AK

I`m not worried about the D. I think it was fine. We kept the Euro brigade from hitting threes . Joel and Simmons can`t beat Celts by themselves. The pace of the game dictated that they would score some points .It wasn`t a grinder. My concern is that there will be a game when they are hitting 3s and we are missing . I think we are far better than them at perimeter defense though , and outside of two guys, far more athletic. What the h is going on with Fultz  now? So glad we got Tatum.

Fultz is exhausted from all the minutes he played this season.

Brad definitely outcoached the 76ers coach. The Bucks series definitely got us ready for this series, did 76ers think they were gonna have it easy? Big difference with our wing defenders and Dragic, Tyler Johnson and Kelly Girlie Man Olnyck....don’t you think. We contest on the perimeter and all over and our defense will go up a notch when Jaylen gets back. What kind of game plan was that with Redick covering Tatum so much? Good news is they have other defenders we can also exploit. What can you say about Marcus Smart, he can do everything but shoot, makes such aggressive dramatic plays. Al was unbelievable, battling Embid and Simmons, never seen him play better.

Can you believe Rozier, how did he suddenly start shooting like Ray
Allen and Steph Curry? Can he keep this up? If he does what do we do
with Kyrie? How did he develop such a lethal 3 point shot and other players like Smart and John Wall never could? Tatum up for the Simmons challenge and love the one drive he had right past/thru Embid, can’t wait for his sidekick and partner in crime Jaylen to show
up....its coming.

steve3344 wrote:

jrleftfoot wrote:

sinus007 wrote:Hi,
Celtics' will and shooting did 76ers in.
On the dark side allowing 100+ points isn't a good sign but absence of JB is a valid excuse, I'd say. Hopefully he'll be back by Thursday.

AK

I`m not worried about the D. I think it was fine. We kept the Euro brigade from hitting threes . Joel and Simmons can`t beat Celts by themselves. The pace of the game dictated that they would score some points .It wasn`t a grinder. My concern is that there will be a game when they are hitting 3s and we are missing . I think we are far better than them at perimeter defense though , and outside of two guys, far more athletic. What the h is going on with Fultz  now? So glad we got Tatum.

Fultz is exhausted from all the minutes he played this season.

He did  look tired on the bench

jrleftfoot wrote:

steve3344 wrote:

jrleftfoot wrote:

sinus007 wrote:Hi,
Celtics' will and shooting did 76ers in.
On the dark side allowing 100+ points isn't a good sign but absence of JB is a valid excuse, I'd say. Hopefully he'll be back by Thursday.

AK

I`m not worried about the D. I think it was fine. We kept the Euro brigade from hitting threes . Joel and Simmons can`t beat Celts by themselves. The pace of the game dictated that they would score some points .It wasn`t a grinder. My concern is that there will be a game when they are hitting 3s and we are missing . I think we are far better than them at perimeter defense though , and outside of two guys, far more athletic. What the h is going on with Fultz  now? So glad we got Tatum.

Fultz is exhausted from all the minutes he played this season.

He did  look tired on the bench

By the way, in case no one noticed, Markelle tied Wilt. It took him all year to do it though.

https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/5763/

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/sixers-learn-hard-truth-game-055656559.html

Who is afraid of the Big Bad Wolf now? The Celts showed what a classy outfit they are last night. Philly wilted under the pressure of our D and O. Vegas had Philly winning 2-1. Should have taken that bet. Tatum was obviously much better than Fultz last night and clearly on a par with Simmons. Wow. What a win. What a team. If/when we win the series against hilly, we have a damn good chance to beat Toronto or Cleveland. Three more wins against Philly guys. Let's go.

Then Danny has to figure out what pieces to add and subtract for next year.

So Philly was a 3 point favorite playing on the road? Let's make them a 6 point fave for Thursday. Let's keep the disrespect for this team going. This was the Celtics 60th win this season.

Why can't the Celtics get more production from their bench? Because the bench is now starting.

Stevens is such a great coach. Did you notice how he shortened the rotation last night? Believe me it had nothing to do with the fact that there wasn't much left on the bench. lol Greg Monroe will get a chance to play again. Jaylen was injured. That left Bear and Abdel. Yay Coach!

All joking aside, this was a great win. From now on first game ball after every victory goes to Danny. He had the defending top seed in the East and he only brought back four players. Last year's team would have lost to the Bucks.

The only reason TRo is shining now is because he is getting a chance to play. He has always had the talent. But when you get yanked and then don't get back in it's hard to show what you got. It's hard to be confident. Now that he has the confidence he can expand and improve his game. But he is not as good as Kyrie.

Big Al is the MVP for this season. He's not our sexy star, he is our All Star. He and Marcus are the glue that holds this team together.

As far as not sexy enuf? How about our Rook? Number one is he is actually a rookie. lol Number two is he is as good as any first year player in the Association this year. Number three and most important he is OUR Rook!

In a season characterized by Next Up it's time for game two.

Quote of the day:

"Why can't the Celtics get more production from their bench? Because the bench is now starting."

worcester wrote:Who is afraid of the Big Bad Wolf now? The Celts showed what a classy outfit they are last night. Philly wilted under the pressure of our D and O. Vegas had Philly winning 2-1. Should have taken that bet. Tatum was obviously much better than Fultz last night and clearly on a par with Simmons. Wow. What a win. What a team. If/when we win the series against hilly, we have a damn good chance to beat Toronto or Cleveland. Three more wins against Philly guys. Let's go.

Then Danny has to figure out what pieces to add and subtract for next year.

"Tatum was obviously much better than Fultz last night."

Ya think? Fultz never got off the bench.

Helluva trade Danny made with Philly. Fultz for Tatum plus a top tier pick this year or next. How does anyone decide to do business with Danny again?

The Sixers cannot cover Rozier they cannot stay with Al and our rookie Tatum was unguardable.

Cow made a good point and one that I also thought about.  The Bucks series prepared The Celtics to play well against the Sixers.  The Sixers were red hot coming into this series.  They were on a 16 game streak to finish the regular season and then demolished the heat 4 games to 1.  They had won 9 straight on the road. They had won 20 out of 21 games.

They came into the game over confident.  The odds makers had them favored but no one told the Celtics.

The Sixers cannot defend Boston on the perimeter.  I do not expect the to miss that many shots but Boston will stay in their face all series.

Terry Rozier is becoming a household name.  Scary Terry is the key to this series.  He runs the offense like a seasoned pro.  He picks his shots.  He rebounds like a forward and defends all over the court.  Terry Rozier is a phenomenal athlete that is oozing with confidence.  

Embid is going to get his and Simmons is bound to leak out and slip past the defense but that is not going to be enough to beat Boston.  

Hats off to Brad.  The rotation was only 8 man deep and he intricately used that shorten rotation like a master artist.  

Game 2 may not be as easy.  Philly should play better and Jaylen may still miss another game.  Brad said they need to clean up some things.

They need to protect the ball and do a much better job blocking out and securing the rebound.  Marcus Smart needs to curb his appetite for taking too many 3 point shots.  Last night I saw the good and the bad Marcus.  He made an amazing play on the offensive glass to score and get fouled.  It was incredible.  Baynes played Embid as well as can be expected but I thought he gave up a few too many short midrange jumpers.  He needs to get up on him.  

Since Redick cannot stay with Tatum the Sixers may try Covington on him.  They still do not have anyone to check Terry and with Baynes banging with Embid Al is able to abuse anyone else.

Philly is a very good team but you can see clearly that Boston has the superior athletes, IQ and a better coach pushing all the right buttons.

I think the Bucks were a tougher matchup.

Hi,
I still worry about our defense. They have to tighten it up because I doubt we can sustain 47% from 3pt and 95% from FT.

AK

We were handed almost every excuse we needed to lose.  Down the usual suspects.  Only 1 day of rest after a tough 7 game series that had one game go to OT.  Philly red-hot losing only 1 game in their previous 22 games.  Then we lose another starter, who is also our #2 scorer, #1 after Kyrie went down.  And that's before the ball even went up.  Add on top of that the player replacing Jaylen shooting 3-12.  Other than losing Horford it couldn't get any worse, right?  Somebody should have told the Boston Celtics that because they played like they owned the place, and they did.  Brad said this year that every player on the roster isn't on the team because of what they might become in the future but because of what they could do for the team this year and that's what we saw last night.  Plug n' Play'em, Brad, Plug n' Play'em.


Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
Marcus Smart: “Nobody did see this coming but us.”


This game was big enough to have the GOAT in the house.




Horford (26), Tatum (28) and Rozier (29) combined for 83 points.  How epic is that?  It has been over 30 years since the Celtics have had 3 players score over 80 in a non-OT playoff game.  That means NOT Pierce/KG/Allen y'all.  The most those 3 ever combined for, regular or post-season, was 79 points.  The Chief, Larry Legend and McHale combined for 83 in 1987.




A tough night for Marcus Smart.  Not only did he shoot a very Smart-ian 3-12 but he got kicked in the 'nads by Embiid.  The Freak did it to him in the last series too.  Must be a rite of passage or something.  Smart pointed out that Draymond Green did that and he got suspended.  True, but Green made it obviously intentional.  Smart did have 9 assists and only 1 TO and his usual bag of winning basketball plays.  That offensive rebound and +1 against Embiid was glorious.

Rozier is just owning every point guard he is going up against.  Brett Brown and his staff is now scrambling to review every piece of film the Sixers have on him like their playoff lives depend upon them, because they just might.  7 3pt fgm last night for TRozzay.  The entire Sixer squad had 5.

Scary Terry is really working his marketing.  Scary Terry T-shirts and sneakers.  Now he's milking the spotlight with his "Do you know me know?!" fight with "Drew" Bledsoe by rocking a for-real Drew Bledsoe jersey.  TRo, living the dream large.







Saric got off to an early start on the offensive boards, Brad called a time out, and that was that.  Ended up with 7 total.  To me, Saric is the X factor.  When he's on he is a very difficult cover because he is so long and so skilled.  The key operative phrase, of course, is "when he's on".

I don't want to jinx anything, but I'm thinking guarding Simmons could be even easier than guarding The Freak since Simmons has NO outside game.  Don't let him into the paint, don't get caught on a switch where you've got a mouse like Larkin bodying him up at the rim and you can reduce his impact.

Tatum has had some weak games in the playoffs, mostly on the road, but he is growing before our very eyes.  Hitting a new playoff high for him must fill him with so much confidence that he can not just play at this level and under this pressure but dominate.  It seems like he rushes his shots a bit but that will stop as he settles in a bit more (he's still a rookie!).  Then he'll have his drives and his shots and he will be incredibly good.  Incredibly good.

Ben Rohrbach @brohrbach
yesterday
Jayson Tatum on “he’s a rookie” chants: “Well, I am a rookie. I love our fans, so that’s appreciated.” Asked if he heard the “not a rookie” chants at Simmons, Tatum smiled, “Naw.”


Adam Himmelsbach @AdamHimmelsbach
yesterday
Tatum: "I guess people looked at me in college, said I couldn’t shoot or play defense. I proved them wrong."

Yes, you have.






Just to stick the knife in and give it a twist Markelle Fultz, the player Philly traded up to draft while giving us Jayson Tatum and next year's Sacto pick (probably, the LA pick this year is unlikely) was a Coaches-DNP and has played a grand total of 23 minutes in total 6 playoff games this year, of which he has only played in 3.  23 minutes, in 3 games.  Tatum played almost 2x as many minutes last night as Fultz has all playoffs.  When you shake Danny's hand make sure to count your fingers afterwards.

Big Al.  What a game.  10-12.  And defended Embiid and Simmons.  He's playing like he's 21, not 31.  And it's not just finesse plays and 3pt bombs-away.  Anybody who doesn't understand how Al Horford, who is not an elite scorer or rebounder or shot-blocker, could be a 5x All-Star and a max player should pay attention, because class is in session.




http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401031671











bob



.

Terry obviouly has a great sense of humor.  Sporting the Drew Bledsoe Jersey.

sinus007 wrote:Hi,
I still worry about our defense. They have to tighten it up because I doubt we can sustain 47% from 3pt and 95% from FT.

AK

Sinus

I would not be too concerned about the Celtics defense.  Philly has averaged 112 PG in the playoffs.  They have shot .339 from deep.  

Boston held them well below their average.  Boston has been a top defensive team all year.  Nothing has changed.  As a matter of fact Boston is a better defensive team with Terry over Kyrie.

I think their biggest challenge is rebounding.  Philly has been a dominant rebounding team.

It was only one win.  We need three more.  The Sixers are going make adjustments.  They are the third seed for a reason, they are very good.  Let's not count them out just yet.  I expect them to play better at some point.

They seemed a little rusty, like they hadn't played a real game for a while.  Oh yeah, they hadn't.  Now they have two more days off.  I hope that keeps them rusty and tight.

We played a short rotation and three of our players each scored over 25 points and together they totalled 83 points.  Is that repeatable?  Probably not.  We will need other players to step up in the scoring department.

We may not get Jaylen Brown back by Thursday.  It may be in our best interest to let him sit out one more game and wait until we play in Philadelphia before he comes back.  We will need him if this series goes six or seven games.

I agree with the statement that the Milwaukee series prepared us for this one. Their length challenged us to find a way, and the results should carry over to this series.

So, one win in the books.  It was a convincing win and not many would have guessed that.  The next win may come a little harder, but this team defies traditional logic.  One game at a time, I'm sure Brad is preaching that!

Go Celtics!!!

Last night was a perfect storm of bad shooting from the Sixers and amazing shooting from the Celtics. I think water will seek its own level and you will see Philly shoot better generally and the Celtics will come down off this massive high a bit over the course of this series.

But in the bigger picture, Brad Stevens again draws up a brilliant game plan that is the blueprint for defeating the Sixers. Let Simmons and Embiid get theirs and no one else. If the Celtics get Jaylen back and he is playing at a high level - they will win this series in 6. If Jaylen doesnt come back, I think it goes 7 and the Boston crowd may be the tipping point. But either way this is going to be a lot of fun.


Couple of things I think we will see:

*Marcus Smart and/or Marcus Morris will end up in dust ups with Ben Simmons. Clearly Simmons likes to push smaller guards around but has a very thin skin when he gets hit back. He wont be able to push around either Marcus so expect some heated confrontations.

*The Sixers have no answer for Rozier and he will expose Simmons or anyone else guarding him.

*Tatum will continue his assent to the top of the NBA and lay claim to being the next superstar, on a level higher the Embiid or Simmons.

*Speaking of Embiid, he will break down and end up missing a game (maybe two)

Looking forward to a great series and lots of spirited crowd involvement. Philly fans havent had much to cheer about for decades, now they have the Superbowl and NCAA title in the same year - so they all will become automatic front runners, and should make for some interesting games in the city of brotherly love.

Good times.

Gary Washburn @GwashburnGlobe
about 6 minutes ago
Brett Brown on #76ers D against Jayson Tatum: "You asked about the matchup with J.J. (Redick) and Jayson. There’s a little bit of that (to change). (But) he scored on a bunch of people. Ben (Simmons) wasn’t so good on him either and neither was Marco (Bellinelli)." #Celtics


bob


.

Some other observations:

A few have pointed out they have no one that can stay in front of Rozier and Tatum, we also can stay in front of their perimeter players and that will only get more uncomfortable for them when Jaylen, our best athlete comes back.

Embid wouldn’t extend his defense out to perimeter, our 5’s Al and Baynes have no problem going there. Eventually Embid will have to defend out there and this will open up even more space for our wings to attack the rim and hopefully get to the line.

Really impressed with the way young Tatum responded to the Simmons challenge, in some of the instances that they were matched up, Tatum has the quickness advantage and can get by Simmons and stay in front of him better than I thought. Add Jaylen also on him and it’s a compelling match up that will be great to see for a decade.

We match up much better with them than I thought....and we have Brad creating an offense to take advantage of all our match up advantages.