LDN - Sports

Celtics slip past Sixers, advance to face Cavs

[May 10, 2018] Jayson Tatum's go-ahead basket with 22.5 seconds left sent the Boston Celtics back to the Eastern Conference finals with a 114-112 win against the visiting Philadelphia 76ers in Game 5 of their second-round playoff series Wednesday night.

Tatum had a team-high 25 points, Jaylen Brown scored 24, Terry Rozier added 17 and Al Horford scored 15 for the Celtics, who took a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series before losing 103-92 in Philadelphia on Monday.

Boston will face the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers in the conference finals for a second consecutive season. The Celtics are in the East finals in consecutive years for the first time since 1986-87 and 1987-88. The Cavs, who advanced this week by sweeping the Toronto Raptors, eliminated the Celtics in a five-game series last May.

"I feel like we more together (than last year)," Rozier said. "Obviously guys been going down all year, and it's like you never know who's going to go down. But we found a way, we pulled together. I'm not saying if we're better or not, but we definitely going back to the Eastern Conference finals, so that's a blessing."

Celtics coach Brad Stevens, referring to the team's success without injures stars Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, "Things haven't always gone our way, but they're talented. They're tough. They fit Boston."

Game 1 of Eastern Conference finals is Sunday in Boston.

Philadelphia's Joel Embiid missed a potential game-tying layup with 12.5 seconds left before the 76ers turned the ball over. Boston's Terry Rozier made two free throws with 9.8 seconds on the clock to make it 113-109, but a JJ Redick 3-pointer with 3.8 ticks left had the 76ers back within a point.

Marcus Smart made one of two free throws with 2.4 seconds left, and Philadelphia turned it over on the inbounds play to seal it.

Embiid finished with 27 points and 12 rebounds, Dario Saric had a playoff-career-high 27 points and 10 boards and Ben Simmons totaled 18 points with eight rebounds and six assists for the 76ers.

Philadelphia, which snapped a five-year playoff drought this season, was denied its first trip to the conference finals since going to the NBA Finals in the 2000-01 season.

Sixers forward Robert Covington said, "Felt like we had more games in us. We had a couple unfortunate bounces of the ball during the game. The momentum was on our side, but they made big plays. Just down the stretch, we felt like we had more basketball to play."

No team in NBA history has overcome an 0-3 series deficit.

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Celtics guard Marcus Smart (36) looks to pass the ball against the Philadelphia 76ers during the first half in game five of the second round of the 2018 NBA Playoffs at the TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

Two Aron Baynes free throws with 6:04 left in the third quarter gave Boston its biggest lead at 12 points, but Philadelphia answered with a 19-8, quarter-ending run to pull within 83-82 entering the final period.

Covington's 3-pointer with 9:49 remaining gave the 76ers a 90-88 lead, their first since being up 48-47 with 3:47 left in the first half.

Boston scored six straight to go up 100-94 on Rozier's finger roll with 5:27 left.

Saric's trey at 3:30 had the 76ers back in front 103-102, and the Philadelphia lead swelled to four with a minute and a half left.

Rozier said of Boston being down by four late, "It was tough, but that's been our season. We overcame so much and we pulled out a lot of games like that. And we know what time it was, we never got tight, and we just pulled it off."

Smart's put-back of a Tatum miss tied the game at 109 with exactly one minute left.

Boston led 61-52 at halftime.

Simmons' driving layup with 1:45 to play in the first half brought the 76ers within 53-52 heading into the final minute. However, Baynes' 3-pointer with 56 seconds to play sparked an 8-0 Boston run to end the half.

"I was saying it from the jump that this was Game 7," Jaylen Brown said. "We treated it as such. We didn't want to go back to Philly. We didn't want to keep building their momentum. It was good to get a closeout game here on our home floor."

Sixers coach Brett Brown called it a hard-fought series, adding, "If we're going to do anything of significance, we're always going to have to go through the Boston Celtics. I respect, very much, this organization. I think (Celtics general manager) Danny (Ainge) and Brad are fantastic. You're always looking over your shoulder and watching how they've decided to grow their program."

--Field Level Media

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