With the highest-scoring Game 7 in NBA history, 51 points from Jayson Tatum helped the Boston Celtics defeat the Philadelphia 76ers 112-88 on Sunday and make it to the Eastern Conference finals for the second consecutive season.
Celtics, who lost to the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals last year, will face the Miami Heat in the East finals, which begin on Wednesday in Boston.
Tatum broke the Game 7 record that Golden State’s Stephen Curry set with 50 points two weeks ago against Sacramento.
The Celtics star added 13 rebounds while Jaylen Brown scored 25 points for Boston, who rallied from a 3-2 deficit in the best-of-seven series to keep alive their hopes for an unprecedented 18th NBA championship.
A disppointment it was for Joel Embiid. With only 15 points and a sad 5 on 18 shots, the Cameroon born star remain far from the stats that allowed him to win the title of best player of the regular season.
Instead it is the Celtics that remain in contention for an 18th national title, a year after losing the Finals to the Golden State Warriors. And with Jason Tatum at this level, the dream is only possible.
The Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Clippers ultimately finalized the much-anticipated blockbuster deal for James Harden on Tuesday morning, after a protracted series of trade talks.
The Sixers handed up rookie center Filip Petrusev, who was later traded to the Sacramento Kings, and veteran forward PJ Tucker as part of the trade that included the ten-time All-Star.
Sixers head coach Nick Nurse stated that although Harden is the deal’s star player, the loss of one of the auxiliary components might
We’re gonna miss him,” Nurse said regarding PJ Tucker. “I know it’s like hard to sometimes believe you go down there and you look at a game when he’s got 0-1, and, you know, oh, oh, oh, oh, and maybe four rebounds and how impactful he is in a game.”
Nevertheless, Tucker was consistently defended for the value he brings to the table—considering it goes beyond the box score—by both his teammates and coaches throughout his first season with the Sixers, despite his lack of scoring.
“I promise that some of the guys in our conference sighed with relief when they saw him included in that deal,” Nurse continued. “He is a game changer and influencer. That will be missed.
Tucker, who joined the Sixers ahead of the 2022-2023 NBA season, spent a large portion of the season hearing criticism over his lack of scoring. In 75 games, he averaged 25 minutes on the floor as a starter. During that time, Tucker averaged 3.5 points while attempting just 1.9 threes per game.
