Philadelphia— Jayson Tatum scored 27 points, Jaylen Brown added 23 and the Boston Celtics soured Joel Embiid’s recent crowning as NBA Most Valuable Player, beating the Philadelphia 76ers 114-102 on Friday to rally in the NBA semifinals. Eastern Conference, which they now win 2-1.
Game 4 is scheduled for Sunday, also in Philadelphia.
Embiid had 30 points and 13 rebounds in his second game since partially recovering from a sprained right knee. In a pre-game ceremony, the Cameroonian received his Most Valuable trophy.
But Boston saw to it that Philadelphia fans didn’t celebrate much longer.
The Sixers got within five points on De’Anthony Melton’s 3-pointer to get the crowd excited for about 20 seconds, the time it took Malcolm Brogdon to hit another 3-pointer that made it 100-92.
The Dominican Al Horford was once again a nightmare for the 76ers, as he has been for a good part of his career, when he hit a three-pointer that put the difference in seven points.
Embiid, who tried to win the game by himself with little offensive help, missed a long shot and Tatum made a jumper to put the game pretty much done.
Tatum hit another 3-pointer and the Celtics regained control of the series.