Irving-less Celtics Fall to 76ers
SteemSports Presenter:@hogan22
SteemSports Editor:@scottybuckets
The young and talented Philadelphia 76ers traveled to Boston to take on the Eastern Conference best Celtics the TD Garden on Thursday night. The 76ers went into the contest on the outside looking into the playoffs, in ninth place in the conference. Boston was without their star point guard, Kyrie Irving, who sat out of the game due to a shoulder injury.
The visiting 76ers grabbed a two-point lead after the first quarter 21-19. With the Celtics struggling to find their offense without Irving, the 76ers clamped down on defense, forcing eight turnovers by the home team, holding them to 13 points in the quarter and 32 points in the half, and taking a seven point lead.
Philadelphia came out of the locker room showcasing their offense, outscoring Boston 32-21 in the third quarter, building an 18 point lead, seemingly, putting the game on ice. Boston rallied late in the final minutes after a 13-2 run, pulling within seven but it was too late as the visiting 76ers took down the Eastern Conference leading Celtics 89-80.
First-time all-star, Joel Embid, led Philadelphia in scoring and rebounding with 26 points and 16 rebounds. Dario Saric and TJ McConnell rounded out the team’s double-digit scorers with 16 and 15 points respectively. The Celtics had five players in double-digits, although none reached the fifteen point mark. Al Horford and Marcus Morris led the losing Boston squad with 14 points each.
Thank you for following @steemsports and you can find me @hogan22
Very good first half of season for the 76ers, they have a lot of talent on their roster, it's nice to see them play.