The Celtics and the Sixers have met 15 times in best-of-seven series in their storied NBA rivalry but this turned out to be the first time that there was a sweep as Boston sealed it with a 110-106 victory this afternoon in Game 4 at the Orlando bubble. It was another clunky effort for the C's but the bottom line was that they got the job done and advanced to the second round for the fourth year in a row thanks to a game-high 32 points from Kemba Walker who advanced to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in his long career. Jayson Tatum added a beefy double-double with 28 points and 15 rebounds, Jaylen Brown scored 16 points and Daniel Theis notched 15 points as the C's move forward to a much-anticipated meeting with the Raptors-a team that they've surprisingly never met before in the postseason (the only team in the East that can say that).
The Sixers had no real reason to show up for this pointless contest but they managed to make the Celts sweat a bit too much for our liking. Joel Embiid put up 30 points and 10 rebounds in his final game of the 2020 season. Tobias Harris (20 points) showed what he's made of as he returned from a scary fall earlier in the game when his face smashed violently against the court. Josh Richardson and Shake Milton both scored 14 points while the ghost of Al Horford managed to record maybe the least impressive double-double (12 points, 10 rebounds) in playoff history. Finally, Alec Burks scored 13 points off the bench for Philly but without Ben Simmons, this series was a wrap before it even began. The Sixers are a very flawed team so whenever next season begins, they figure to look way different both on the bench (coaches and players) and on the floor.
Boston got off to a slow start-trailing 32-27 after the first quarter and 58-57 at halftime. The turning point was Harris' injury late in the third quarter that forced him to go to the locker room for a bit with a towel covering some sort of cut near his eye. That propelled the Celtics to a 19-2 run into the fourth quarter, with a dagger 3-pointer by Tatum at the end of the third quarter that gave Boston a 12-point lead (89-77). Philly took the final frame (29-21) but their brutal 3-point shooting (9-for-34, 26.5%) and seven less assists (19-12) than the Celtics helped to send them out of the happiest place on Earth.
I think I echoed the same sentiment in all four games vs. the Sixers that the C's would have to play much better to beat the Raptors and get to the Eastern Conference Finals. Toronto swept Brooklyn today as well, which proves absolutely nothing since the Nets were the worst team to make the playoffs in either league this bizarre year. They don't have Kawhi Leonard anymore which seems quite relevant but the Raptors are still the defending NBA champs and they have played great lately (14-1 in their last 15 games). In many ways, they are a scrappy, tough defensive team like Boston with versatile guys like Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet that won't be rattled. Also, if you like Brad Stevens, Nick Nurse is arguably better than him-he was named NBA Coach of the Year yesterday. For what it's worth, the C's went 3-1 against Toronto in the regular season.
Game 1 is not until Thursday night (time TBA) so the only real thing to pay attention to the next few days when it comes to this series is the status of Kyle Lowry. The Raptors' do-everything point guard left today's blowout (150-122 over the Nets) with an ankle sprain and he's getting an MRI tomorrow. Obviously, they didn't need him to close out Brooklyn so they were probably being extra cautious looking ahead to a real opponent on the horizon. If he misses time or even if he's hurt enough to not be himself, that would be a huge development for both clubs. Stay tuned, either way this is going to be a fantastic series between what I believe are the two best/most well-rounded teams in the Eastern Conference-sorry Bucks.
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