Jayson Tatum delivered 35 points and 11 assists as the visiting Boston Celtics rallied from a 26-point, second-half deficit to defeat the Philadelphia 76ers 118-110 on Sunday.
Boston outscored Philadelphia 54-20 over the final 14-plus minutes to take control of a game that was initially dominated by Philadelphia. In doing so, the Celtics avenged a home loss to the Sixers on Christmas Day and improved to 2-0 on their road trip, which concludes Tuesday with a showdown against the Eastern Conference-leading Cleveland Cavaliers.
Jaylen Brown had 21 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for Boston, while Kristaps Porzingis notched 18 points, seven rebounds and five blocks. The Celtics made 21 3-pointers, including 14 on 22 attempts in the second half.
Tyrese Maxey led the Sixers with 34 points, while Guerschon Yabusele chipped in with 21 points against his former team. Kelly Oubre Jr. contributed 18 points and 13 boards for Philadelphia, which continued to play without Joel Embiid (knee) and Paul George (finger).
Maxey made three 3-pointers during a 16-point first quarter as Philadelphia took a 29-21 lead into the second.
The Sixers’ lead ballooned to 43-28 on Maxey’s 3-pointer about midway through the second quarter. The Celtics whittled their deficit to seven, but Philadelphia built its lead to 61-44 at intermission.
Philadelphia led by at least 14 points for the duration of the third quarter, going up by as many as 26 on Ricky Council IV’s layup that made it 90-64 with less than three minutes left in the period.
However, Boston closed the quarter on a 16-4 run. Derrick White began that surge with a pair of 3-pointers before Sam Hauser and Tatum drained shots of their own from long range. Brown’s layup in the waning seconds of the frame drew the visitors within 94-80.
Hauser made two more 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter and Tatum later added a 3 with 6:51 to go, putting Boston in front 101-100.
White connected on two 3-pointers in the final five minutes — both coming after the Sixers had gotten within a point. Jrue Holiday’s 3-pointer with 52.2 seconds left sealed the deal.
–Field Level Media
