Jayson Tatum wants to conquer the world this year. The Boston Celtics star was left frustrated after losing the NBA Finals to the Golden State Warriors last year. He performed at his best throughout the season and even took it as a personal challenge to be the best in the All-Star Game. In a crucial game, this Thursday in Philadelphia, he suffered a blackout. He failed almost everything he tried in the first three quarters, but in the final quarter he took control of the game and gave his team a 16-point win (86-95) over the 76ers. The semifinals will be decided in Game 7 in Boston.
The Philadelphia players have wanted to reach the conference finals since 2001, when Allen Iverson and Dikembe Mutombo were the soul of the team. That year they won the East title in Game 7 against the Milwaukee Bucks and then lost in the NBA Finals to the Lakers around Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. They had their big chance at home this Thursday but missed it in the final quarter where they only managed 13 points.
Tatum was revived at the end of the game. After a series of 0 out of 6 threes, he scored two goals in a row at the decisive moment. His team was 83-81 behind and with those 6 points they took a 83-87 lead with less than four minutes to go. He had also scored the previous two-goal for his team. And he kept scoring. There was no turning back. By the end of the game, Tatum had 19 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists.
The 76ers were in tow from the start of the game. They started with a dismal 3:15 run and finishing the first quarter 22:29 down at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia was almost a relief. The Celtics narrowly escaped in the second quarter as well, but the 76ers reacted and the break was achieved 43:50 in favor of Boston.
The first half was a bit absurd. The game’s three biggest superstars (Jayson Tatum, Joel Embiid and James Harden) only scored 6 of the 29 field goals they attempted. Particularly disastrous was Jayson Tatum’s attack, who missed all ten shots he attempted. But Harden and Embiid didn’t fare much better either, at 3:10 and 3:9.
The Celtics went into halftime with a 7-point lead, thanks largely to the efforts of Marcus Smart (6 of 8 from the field) and Malcolm Brogdon (5 of 6). And if the lead wasn’t bigger, it’s because Tyrese Maxey kept the 76ers afloat by 15 points.
When it comes to crucial games, the defense gets tougher, but in the case of Embiid and Al Horford, the entire series has been a high-intensity battle. The Celtics Dominican fended off Embiid in the first half, but the regular-season best man improved his tone, alternating short shots, internes and intelligent clears. By the end of the game he had 26 points and 10 rebounds. Maxey added another 26 points with a great performance.
The one who underperformed throughout the game was James Harden with 4 of 16 shots from the field and just 13 points. In the three games in which he was so unsuccessful, his team fell. He was 2 of 14 and 3 of 14 in Game 2 and Game 3, respectively. Instead, he was the star in the first and fourth.
The locals only took the lead with 4:37 left in the third quarter when James Harden took two free throws to put the score at 64:62. Boston responded with a triple on the next possession and the alternatives followed one another from there. The scores stayed very even as the quarter progressed and they went into the final quarter 73-71 in Electronics. The 76ers took over early in the fourth quarter. Until Tatum woke up. Neither Embiid nor Harden managed to answer.
In Friday’s other Eastern Conference game, the Miami Heat host the Boston Celtics with a 3-2 lead in the series. It’s an opportunity for Jimmy Butler’s team to score at home, although Jalen Brunson (who produced a spectacular game in game five) and his team will try not to make things easy for them. Miami was an Eastern Conference finalist in 2022, but this year it seemed impossible to pull off the big surprise and take out the Milwaukee Bucks.
You can follow EL PAÍS Deportes on Facebook and Twitteror sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.