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Celtics Wrap: Kyrie Irving’s Huge Night Leads Boston To 108-97 Win Vs. 76ers

NESN by Joshua Schrock on Thu, Nov 30, 2017 at 9:55PM

BOSTON — Last time the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers met, Kyrie Irving had some choice words for a 76ers fan as he was walking off the court. On Thursday night at TD Garden, however, Irving let his game do all the talking. The Celtics star poured in 36 points on 12-for-21 shooting to lead Boston to a 108-97 win. Boston’s defense held the 76ers down for much of the night, as Ben Simmons (15 points) and Dario Saric (18 points) had to do most of the heavy lifting with Joel Embiid getting the night off. Al Horford (21 points), Marcus Morris (17 points) and Jayson Tatum (15 points) also scored in double figures, as the Celtics held off a second-half rally to earn the win. The Celtics improved to 19-4, while the 76ers fell to 12-9. Here’s how it all went down:

STARTING FIVE PG: Kyrie Irving SG: Jaylen Brown SF: Jayson Tatum PF: Al Horford C: Aron Baynes

NO PROCESS With the 76ers playing on the second night of a back-to-back, head coach Brett Brown elected to sit Embiid to manage his load.

UNCLE DREW The Celtics got off to a hot start thanks to Irving. Boston’s star point guard was hitting everything in the first stanza, as he logged 11 points in the quarter to give Boston a 28-22 lead. Horford added 1o in the frame, as the C’s defense held the 76ers to 36 percent shooting during the period. There also was this monster dunk from Brown:

C’S LEAD AT THE BREAK It was more of the same in the second frame for the Celtics, as Irving continued to torch the nets and the defense locked up the Embiiid-less 76ers. Boston turned the ball over 12 times in the half, however, which kept the 76ers within 10 at halftime. Irving led all scorers with 20 points on 7-for-12 shooting, while Horford added 12 on 5 of 6 shooting. Saric paced the 76ers with 11 points and Simmons chipped in with eight points.

76ERS CLOSE THE GAP Boston’s sloppy play finally caught up with it in the third quarter, as the 76ers erased a 12-point deficit thanks to good work on the glass from Saric and Richaun Holmes. The game was tied at 67 with three minutes to play in the third quarter when Morris hit two jumpers to give the C’s a four-point lead. Terry Rozier followed with a 3-pointer to swell it to seven.

BOSTON SLAMS THE DOOR The Celtics held a five-point lead entering the fourth quarter, but then it was closing time. After Jerryd Bayless cut the lead to three, the C’s went on a 14-4 run to take a 13-point lead with just under five minutes to play. Tatum, Morris, Irving, Horford and Daniel Theis all scored during Boston’s run, as the Celtics used the Irving-Horford pick-and-roll/pop to get quality looks for their two stars. After Robert Covington cut the lead to single digits, Irving buried two free throws and Horford drained a trey to swell the lead to 13 and send the TD Garden faithful home happy.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE GAME Simmons with the Jumpman jam.

UP NEXT The Celtics will take the court again Saturday when they host the Phoenix Suns. Tip-off from TD Garden is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.
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Kyrie sets tone, Morris provides punch off bench in Celtics win over Sixers

NBC SPORTS BOSTON - By A. Sherrod Blakely November 30, 2017 9:57 PM

BOSTON – When the Boston Celtics acquired Marcus Morris via trade from Detroit, the thinking at the time was that he could provide some much-needed scoring punch off the bench.

Injuries have forced Celtics head coach Brad Stevens to at times insert him in the starting lineup.

But as we saw on Thursday, Morris’ value as a point-producer off the bench can’t be overlooked.

Because Morris’ scoring at the start of the fourth quarter would prove vital to Boston holding off a pesky Sixers team, 108-97.

The Celtics (19-4) add one more victory to the best record in the NBA and just as important, getting back on a winning track after losing by 10 points to Detroit on Monday.

Following the loss to the Pistons, players talked about the importance of learning from the Detroit loss and understanding that because of their record, teams are going to play some of their best basketball of the season when they see that Green and White on the floor.

With that mind, the Celtics played a much better, more complete game against the Sixers (12-9) who were coming off a 118-113 win over Washington less than 24 hours earlier.

Indeed, several Celtics stepped up on Thursday including Morris who finished with 17 points which was one-point shy of matching his season high with the Celtics.

With Morris setting the tone by scoring Boston’s first five points of the fourth, the Celtics settled on a familiar scorer down the stretch to carry them to victory – Kyrie Irving.

Irving finished with a game-high 36 points, nine of which came in the fourth quarter.

Even with Joel Embiid back in Philly due to what the team refers to as “load management,” the Sixers didn’t waste any time jumping on the Celtics with a 9-2 run to start the game.

But the Celtics bounced back with a pair of 3’s that led to Sixers coach Brett Brown calling a timeout.

Boston gradually took over and ended the first quarter with a 28-22 lead, with the 1-2 punch of Al Horford and Kyrie Irving who had 10 and 11 points, respectively. Horford had a near double-double, scoring 21 points while grabbing eight rebounds along with dishing out five assists.

In the second quarter, Boston was able to maintain a similar lead to what they had to end the first.

But the Sixers went on a 7-2 run that cut Boston’s lead to 43-41, only for the Celtics to counter with a 3-point play by Irving that made it a 46-41 game with less two minutes play.

From there, Boston closed out the second quarter with an 8-3 spurt to lead 54-44 at the half.

Philadelphia chipped away at Boston’s lead, and eventually went ahead 67-65 behind a 23-9 run.

But as we had seen most of the night, the Celtics met Philly’s surge with one of their own. True to form, the Celtics finished the third quarter with an 11-4 run to lead 76-71 going into the fourth and remained in front for the rest of the game.
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Celtics pull away from visiting 76ers behind heavy scoring from Irving

ESPN BOSTON Chris ForsbergESPN Staff Writer

BOSTON - As spectacular as Kyrie Irving was on this night - and Boston's masked superhero shined while producing his fifth game with at least 30 points this month - it was maybe most notable how his teammates responded Thursday night when Irving went to the bench for his final long rest of the night.

The Joel Embiid-less Philadelphia 76ers had rallied ahead late in the third quarter and were up a bucket when Irving checked out with 3:37 to play in the frame. Marcus Morris, shuffled to a reserve role with Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens preferring the size of Aron Baynes to start the game, produced three consecutive makes, including a driving finger roll as Boston quickly rallied back in front and held the Sixers at arm's length until Irving returned midway through the fourth quarter.

Irving, who scored a game-high 36 points on 12-of-21 shooting, took the Celtics to the finish line of a 108-97 triumph over Philadelphia at TD Garden. Morris added 17 points off the bench, making five of his final six shots while carrying Boston's second-unit offense in the second half.
Kyrie Irving and the Boston Celtics moved to 5-0 against the Atlantic Division this season. Brian Babineau/NBAE/Getty

The Celtics, a rare two days off after Monday's loss to the Pistons, seemed to have a little more in the tank than the Sixers, who were playing the second night of a back-to-back (hence Embiid's absence).

The Sixers put six players players in double figures, with Dario Saric scoring a team-high 18 points. Boston overcame some sloppy early play (12 of 17 turnovers came in first half) and shot 50.6 percent overall from the floor.

Jayson Tatum, the player Boston selected with the No. 3 pick it got in a pre-draft swap with the Philadelphia 76ers, added 15 points. He again came up with key scoring plays, like in the fourth quarter when he waved off his teammates to go isolation against former Celtics big man Amir Johnson and drove at the basket for a layup.

While Celtics coach Brad Stevens challenged the notion that his team is a contender through the first quarter of the season, Boston improved to 19-4 on the season and maintains the best record in basketball.

Sixers coach Brett Brown suggested Boston is among current NBA powers.

"I mean, we're playing against NBA royalty right now," said Brown.

"You're always learning from All-Stars, really. I look at this [Boston] team and you look at what Kyrie and [Al] Horford have done with bringing some of these young guys along and they're NBA All-Stars for a reason. I think it's a great learning experience for us. I think this building and this city has a real pulse. It's got a vibe to the building, as unforgiving as Philadelphia is. You go on the road and play the league's best team and there needs to be a level of poise and confidence among our group."

The Celtics continue their four-game homestand Saturday when they host the Phoenix Suns.

Not very impressed with the win.  With Joel Embiid  back in Philly and some other injuries there were at a disadvantage yet made the game competitive.

We are missing something for sure and it is not just Haywood.

112288

112288, The team is exciting, but I think we're missing a better than average 5 to counter the Drummonds, Whitesides, Towns's, Embiids, Davises, etc. out there. Baynes is big enough and Morris is mobile enough, but to win it all, IMO, we will need someone big, mobile and eager to play center. Hawk

A win in the NBA is a win no matter what the circumstances.

Every time I hear about the other teams not having one of their better/best players, I seem to immediately think of Hayward not being available either. Embiid sits out an occasional game, but Hayward will sit out probably all 82 games (minus the first five minutes of the first game).

The Cs are off to a great start even without Hayward this season. They have some things to think about (rebounding stats are drifting downward, not much depth at the center position, second unit scoring, etc), but Stevens has done a great job resetting the team without an all star talent.

hawksnestbeach wrote:112288, The team is exciting, but I think we're missing  a better than average 5 to counter the Drummonds, Whitesides, Towns's, Embiids, Davises, etc. out there. Baynes is big enough and Morris is mobile enough, but to win it all, IMO, we will need someone big, mobile and eager to play center. Hawk

Griz might be open to moving Marc Gasol. But at what price.

Anthony Davis, however, would look better in green.

Didn't see the game, from looking at the boxscore, we should get more minutes for Theis and Tatum needs to put up more shots.

It’s a win and philly even without Embiib is dangerous. Look at the battle the Hawks without their center gave the Cavs?  Any team can get hot and put up a fight.  To say we should have clubed them by more is to me expecting a bit too much.

We had more players have good games than poor ones.

I’ll take the win and move on to the next game!

beat