The Philadelphia 76ers showed up to fight for their playoff lives in Game 4 of their series with the Boston Celtics, winning the tip and getting Shake Milton to the line where he converted both.
The Sixers kept attacking early, forcing a turnover and getting a foul on Boston’s Daniel Theis in just the first few possessions. An early substitution for Enes Kanter had an immediate effect, with a Jaylen Brown trey getting the Celtics on the board.
Boston went on the attack, with a Kemba Walker 3-pointer putting the Celtics up 13-9 with 8:30 to play, and another from Marcus Smart set the lead at 5. Fouls — including a technical from Smart for jawing the refs early — and sloppy play kept Philly close, the Sixers tying it at 22 with four to play.
An Al Horford make put Philly up two, and a Tobias Harris trip to the line capped off an 11-0 run to put the Sixers up 28-22 with 2:30 left in the quarter. Boston kept fouling at a high rate, going into the second quarter down 32-27.
ball movement đ pic.twitter.com/BUyWkl6r1V
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) August 23, 2020
The Celtics started the second quarter with a trip to the line of their own, Smart converting one of two. A trey from Theis cut the lead to 1 with 10 to play, and a Walker 3 soon after tied the game up at 36 on Boston’s next possession.
A scary collision with Embiid put Walker on the ground, but he shook it off as both teams traded blows. Neither team seemed able to get separation, forcing a Philly timeout with 5:30 to go in the half. A technical from Harris after being stripped by Tatum tied it up at 51.
The two Atlantic Division rivals continued to struggle to break away from one another until Harris hit a 3 with 2:30 to play in the quarter. Another tech from Philly on Josh Richardson after a Walker strip sent the UConn product to the line to cut the lead to 58-57.
Kemba Walker has reached the 20-point mark for the third consecutive game.
He'd never tallied 20+ points in back-to-back playoff games entering this postseason. (via @celtics_stats) pic.twitter.com/cR3wgEmlVn
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) August 23, 2020
The penultimate quarter started with Brown missing a 3-pointer as both teams struggled to score early. A drive by the Georgia native would give Boston back the lead, which Walker extended to 63-60 from the charity stripe with 9:15 to play in the frame.
Philly fought back, but Walker nailed a 3 from the top of the key to extend the lead to 4. The Sixers wouldn’t quit however, cutting the lead to just 1 on a Milton layup. Both teams continued to trade baskets until Sixers coach Brown got himself a tech on an apparent push-off by Walker.
An and-1 from Horford nearly erased the advantage, and an Alec Burks drive tied it at 77 with 3:20 to go in the quarter. Grant Williams would nail a trey after a stretch of rough play, but Harris would take a hard fall soon after, forcing a stoppage in play with head trauma from the fall.
Tatum would extend the lead with a floater, and a late trey from the Duke product would extend the lead to 12 to end the quarter.
đ pic.twitter.com/yvIFqwgPjr
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) August 23, 2020
Boston began the final frame up 89-77, and the Celtics extended their lead with an Enes Kanter make, but Embiid would put up some fight, getting the Sixers to within 12 with eight minutes left in the game.
Philly kept trying to claw into the league, but made little headway. Harris was able to check back into the game despite that hard fall, but Tatum would push the lead to 14 off a Walker strip of Richardson.
The Sixers wouldn’t quit, but simply couldn’t make up the gap in the time remaining. The Boston Celtics would outlast Philly to advance to the second round of the 2020 NBA Playoffs to face the winner of the Toronto Raptors – Brooklyn Nets series the reigning champs hold a 3-0 lead in.
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