'Nothing like a shot to the face to wake you right up,' Brown said. Williams followed the commotion with a layup that tied the score 35-all. He also played with an edge, making both foul shots and following it with a steal and layup as Boston went on a 9-0 run to erase a 35-26 deficit.īrown also dove into the Sixers bench to save a ball, then had words with the bench after Georges Niang grabbed his leg and kept him from getting back on the court. He took it off and soon absorbed an elbow to the face from James Harden, who was assessed a flagrant foul.īrown continued without the mask but finished the half with cotton in his left nostril. 'He got it rolling, and there's nothing they could do to stop him.'īrown began the game with the black mask he has worn since breaking a bone in his face before the All-Star break. 'JT just got it going and get out of that man's way,' Brown said. The 33-10 edge in the third was the most lopsided quarter in a Game 7 since at least 1997. He picked up where he left off, scoring Boston's first basket and 11 points in the first quarter, 14 more in the second and outscoring the Sixers on his own, 17-10, in the third.

Tatum started 0 for 6 in a Game 5 loss and missed 14 of his first 15 shots overall from the floor in Game 6 before making four 3-pointers in the final 4:14 to force the decisive seventh game. And then tonight I think we took a step backward. I thought we took another step this season. 'We played great all year and this loss absolutely diminishes what we did this year in some way. I really did,' said Sixers coach Doc Rivers, who was on the Boston bench when the Celtics won it all in 2008. The Sixers lost in the conference semifinals for the third straight year, and the fifth time in six seasons they have not gotten any farther since reaching the NBA Finals in 2001 despite 'The Process' - tanking their way to four top-three draft picks in a row, including Embiid. Newly crowned NBA MVP Joel Embiid scored 15 points on 5-for-18 shooting, and Tobias Harris scored 19 for Philadelphia. 'As a competitor, I love the opportunity.' 'It's the best time of the year,' Tatum said. 'It definitely was on my mind that I had played as bad as it could get, for 43 minutes. Our season could have been over after Game 6,' said Tatum, who broke the Game 7 record of 50 points Stephen Curry set two weeks ago. 'I was relieved just to get another chance. The Celtics, who lost to the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals last year, will face the Miami Heat in the East finals for the second straight season. One game after missing 14 of his first 15 shots only to awaken in the fourth quarter in time to save their season, Tatum scored 25 in the back-and-forth first half and 17 more in Boston's 33-10 third quarter that turned a three-point lead into a runaway.

BOSTON (AP) - Jayson Tatum gave Boston a long-overdue fast start and followed it up with a finish the NBA had never seen before.Īfter struggling in back-to-back games, Tatum erupted for 51 points – the most in a Game 7 in history - and the Celtics beat the Philadelphia 76ers 112-88 on Sunday to advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the second straight year.

Philadelphia sixers score last night