The Boston Celtics are Eastern Conference Finals bound for the second consecutive year.
They capped off their back-and-forth series vs. the Philadelphia 76ers with a dominant 112-88 victory in Sunday's critical Game 7. After a tightly-contested first half, the C's caught fire and outscored the Sixers by 21 points in the final two frames (33-10 in the third quarter). They shot 47.1 percent from the field and a blistering 15-for-33 (45.5 percent) from 3-point range in the win.
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Jayson Tatum, who got off to uncharacteristically slow starts in Games 4, 5, and 6, gave the Celtics a complete effort in this one. The four-time All-Star took over with 51 points on 17-of-28 shooting (6-10 3-PT). The other half of the C's superstar duo, Jaylen Brown, chipped in 25 points.
The Celtics limited NBA MVP Joel Embiid to 15 points and former MVP James Harden to just nine. Tobias Harris was Philly's leading scorer with 19.
For the third time in the last four seasons, the Celtics will take on the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. Game 1 is set for Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Boston Celtics
First, here are three quick takeaways from Sunday's Game 7 triumph.
Jayson Tatum breaks through with signature performance
Tatum had been under fire for his inconsistency in the second-round series, and rightfully so. The 25-year-old entered 0-for-15 on field goals over his last three games in the first quarter, but he finally snapped out of that funk.
On Sunday, Tatum started off strong with 11 points (4-8 FG) in the first frame and 25 (9-16 FG) in the half.
He was only warming up.
Tatum went off for 17 points in the third quarter to outscore the entire Sixers team (10 points). He finished with 51 points for the third-most ever scored by a Celtic in a playoff game. John Havlicek dropped 54 points in Game 1 of the 1973 Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Atlanta Hawks, and Isaiah Thomas had 53 in the 2017 East semifinals vs. the Washington Wizards.
This was the first-ever 50-point performance by a Celtics player in a Game 7. It broke Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry's NBA record (50) set earlier in this postseason for most points in a Game 7.
Tatum will look to carry this momentum into the upcoming series vs. Miami. He averaged 25.0 points, 8.3 rebounds and 5.6 assists in the 2022 East Finals.
Al Horford shuts down Joel Embiid
Tatum's scoring will earn most of the headlines, but Al Horford's defensive performance against the 2022-23 MVP was key to the C's finishing off the Sixers.
Embiid had no answer for the 36-year-old big man throughout the matchup. He shot 2-for-10 from the field with Horford as his primary defender in the first half, per ESPN.
He kept up the pressure in the second half to limit Embiid to a modest 15 points on 5-of-18 shooting. His emphatic block on the Sixers star during the third quarter was the icing on the cake.
Horford's stellar defensive showing made up for the shooting slump he went through during the series. He finished Game 7 with six points (2-5 3-PT), 10 rebounds, three assists, three blocks, and two steals.
TD Garden crowd answers the call
Jaylen Brown called out Celtics fans ahead of the Game 7 showdown.
"Celtics fans, y'all love to call us out, right? So, I'm gonna call you guys out this time," Brown said. "The energy at the Garden has been OK at best all playoffs. ... I need you to come with the energy, because we're gonna need every bit of it. No excuses. We need everybody. So, I'm calling you guys out. Let's make sure the Garden is ready to go."
Message received.
The TD Garden crowd was nothing short of electric on Sunday. Celtics fans were on their feet from the opening tip to the final buzzer. There were MVP chants for Tatum, not-so-nice chants for 76ers players and the officials, booming cheers with each C's bucket and Sixers miss. In other words, it was a vintage TD Garden playoff atmosphere.
But the job isn't finished. Brown and the Celtics will look for fans to bring the same energy when the quest for Banner 18 continues on Wednesday.