The 76ers were keeping pace with the Celtics in a Game 7 chase until a third-quarter collapse put control of the game in Boston's hands.
The Boston Celtics beat the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 7,112-88, advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Game 7 was close until a disaster of a third quarter from Philly. In the bottom half of the third quarter, the Sixers did not score a single point. They had a total of 10 points in the quarter. Boston had 33 points in the same span and that pretty much sealed the deal.
Jayson Tatum led the offensive effort for the Celtics with one of the best games of his career.
Reasons the Celtics won Game 7 over the 76ers
3. Boston's defense on Joel Embiid and James Harden
Al Horford and Marcus Smart's defensive performances were amazing in this game. Through three quarters, Joel Embiid and James Harden had more turnovers than points. At one point in the second half, the Sixers' top duo was shooting 28 percent from the field.
Both Horford and Smart led an effort that helped make sure Embiid and Harden were non-existent in this game. Other players such as Jaylen Brown were on it as well but he's coming up on the list due to his offensive performance.
Smart and Horford weren't the only ones who had the assignment of these two players so therefore it was a group effort.
2. Jaylen Brown
Brown had a very solid offensive game for the Celtics in this game. He ended up with 25 points on 47 percent shooting from the floor. He was reliable from three in as he ended up making three of his five attempts. Brown's ability to hit threes helped his co-star have cleaner lanes than he previously would have had.
Brown ended up with about six points of stat-padding at the end of the game, but he was a really efficient second option for the Celtics. He was the second-best player on the court.
1. Jayson Tatum
Jayson Tatum ended up with the highest-scoring game in the history of NBA Game 7s on very efficient shooting. He had 51 points on 60 percent shooting from the floor. He shot 60 percent from three, making six total.
Considering the moment, this might be Jayson Tatum's best-ever playoff game. His 50+ point performance carried the Celtics to a Gae 7 win.
Without doing a deep dive into his playoff history, it would be unclear to know how this game stacks up against the 2021 Celtics' playoff run and others. Tatum struggled to shoot a bit at the beginning of this game but he was able to overcome that to end up with a generational night from the floor.
Philly faces an offseason worth of questions. They potentially could have avoided this by not completely shutting down offensively in the third quarter. Due to that third quarter, they face a summer of James Harden-back-to-Houston and Doc-Rivers-getting-fired rumors.
The Celtics move on to the Eastern Conference finals in their race to avenge their NBA Finals loss last year.
