In a merciless fashion, the Boston Celtics obliterated the Philadelphia 76ers to pieces in Game 7, taking a wire-to-wire 112-88 victory on Sunday night of their Conference Semis finale.
The never-say-die Celtics managed to survive being down 3-2 against the Sixers, and didn’t waste any time to hammer the finisher to advance to the East Finals for the fifth time in the last seven years.
Jayson Tatum went unconscious to lead Boston’s entry to the next round, exploding for a career-high 51 points in 17-28 shooting to go with 13 boards and five dimes. He now surpassed Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry for most points in a Game 7 in postseason history, who previously tallied 50 markers on their first-round ender against the Sacramento Kings.
The 25-year-old star also became the third Celtic to drop 40+ points in a Game 7, topping both Sam Jones (1963) and Paul Pierce (2008).
His All-Star running mate Jaylen Brown provided 25 points, six boards, two steals and two blocks, while Malcolm Brogdon had 12 bench points.
Philadelphia suffered from a complete meltdown in Game 7, shooting a nightmarish 37.3 percent from the field collectively and going 8-37 from treys.
Reigning league MVP Joel Embiid went completely passive in front of the roaring TD Garden crowd, tallying a lowly 15 points in 5-18 shooting to go with four turnovers. James Harden was also nowhere to be found, chipping just nine points in 3-11 shooting with five turnovers.
With another year of disappointment in the books, Philadelphia is set to face daunting questions that need to be answered heading to a painful offseason. They are yet to set their foot on the Conference Finals territory since the 2000-01 season.
Boston, for the third time in four years, will meet the Miami Heat for the right to advance to the Conference Finals. The eighth-seeded, Cinderella squad in Heat powered by Jimmy Butler torched the Knicks in six games of their second-round set.
Both Celtics and the Heat notably went toe-to-toe last year in their Conference Finals encounter, as Boston managed to escape in a nail-biting Game 7 on the road.
Both titan teams are set to collide on Wednesday for their East Finals opener.
