The Eastern Conference semifinals get a change of venue as a pair of Atlantic Division rivals take the hardwood in the City of Brotherly Love. The second-seeded Boston Celtics are on the road as they play Game 3 of their best of seven series against the third-seeded Philadelphia 76ers Saturday afternoon. Surprisingly, Boston took the first two games of the series, winning handily, 117-101, in Game 1 and following that up with a spirited comeback in a 108-103 Game 2 win Thursday night. The Celtics lead the all-time regular season series 258-186 and took three of four meetings this season: Philadelphia won the final meeting, 89-80, on the road on January 18. Boston has won 12 of the 20 playoff series and holds a 54-46 edge in playoff victories between the teams, that includes a seven game victory in the last matchup in the 2012 Eastern Conference semifinals.
Boston Celtics Seek First Road Win of Postseason
Boston was the lone team in the regular season to record more road wins (28) than home wins (27), though they’re looking for their first win of the postseason as the visiting team. In their first round series with the Bucks, the home team prevailed in all seven contests. While that pattern would prove beneficial to the Celtics again in this series as they have home court advantage, you’d like to think they’d like to have a little more wiggle room than a winner take all situation like they had with Milwaukee. Boston has momentum on their side, especially after rallying from a big deficit to take Game 2 of this series at home.
The Celtics have had their offensive struggles in the postseason, shooting 44.8 percent from the field and 37.6 percent from beyond the arc: they averaged 11.4 three pointers per game. Boston’s edge came at the charity stripe as they sink 77.5 percent of their chances. In Game 2, the Celtics shot 45.1 percent from the floor and knocked down 15 of 36 three point attempts in the contest. Boston converted 19 of 24 free throws and committed just nine turnovers. The Celtics trailed 48-26 with 6:41 to go in the first half but closed the half on a 25-8 run to cut the deficit to five. Boston led by as many as eight in the third quarter and took the lead for good on Marcus Morris’s three with 4:13 to play. Jayson Tatum led the Celtics with 21 points in the win. Terry Rozier kicked in 20 points, seven rebounds plus nine assists, Marcus Smart added 19, Al Horford (12 rebounds) and Jaylen Brown each had 13 while Morris finished with 11. Coach Brad Stevens keeps getting the most out of his players as the Celtics embody the next man up mentality.
Philadelphia 76ers Try to Get Back in Series
Philadelphia’s Game 1 loss could have been partially attributed to rust as they had been off for nearly a week after dispatching the Heat in five games while Boston went right to the wire to knock out the Bucks. Game 2 was an entirely different story as the 76ers controlled the game for the first quarter and a half, putting the Celtics on the ropes, and seemed poised to head home with a split and having stolen home court advantage. Instead, Philadelphia went soft, Boston took control and the team now heads home facing a 2-0 series deficit wondering what went wrong for a team that came into the series winning 20 of their previous 21 games.