Celtics vs 76ers

Alyssa De La Cruz, Staff Writer

The first semifinal game for Boston Celtics vs Philadelphia 76ers was on April 30, 2018. Boston took win number one. However, that is not the only thing that was important in the game. A win is a win, but the way they play is a different story.

As people said that Boston would never win the first round of the playoffs because they lost Kyrie Irving, due to an injury, Boston was more than willing to prove those opinions wrong. Boston ended those negative opinions with a win. Key players on the Celtics roster were Al Horford, Jayson Tatum, and Terry Rozier. In the first game, Horford played 33 minutes and had 26 points, Tatum played 40 minutes and had 28 points, and Rozier played 35 minutes and had 29 points.

The 76ers believe they’ve been one of the strongest teams since the start of their season. People did not think they would make the playoffs as well, but guess what? They did! Key players for the 76ers are: Joel Embiid, who played 35 minutes and had 31 points, and Ben Simmons, who played 42 minutes and had 18 points.

Game 1 of the semifinals started off in Boston. Boston’s youth movement of Tatum and Rozier led the way. Two days after scoring a career playoff-high in Game 7 against Milwaukee, Rozier topped it and added eight rebounds and six assists. It was the first time that Boston has three players score 25 or more points in a playoff game since Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and Rajon Rond (in 2009). At the end of the first quarter, Celtics were up 22-25. Still, at the end of the first half, Celtics had the lead of 45-56. Even if Celtics had the lead, the 76ers did not give up easy as they still tried their best to score their baskets. At the end of the third quarter Celtics had a lead of 75-87. Moving on to the fourth quarter the 76ers tried to catch up to the Celtics and cut off their lead but they could not. They tried their best but the Celtics were just rolling them point after point.

After the hard-fought game, the Celtics put T-shirts on every seat that said, “BEAT PHILA”. In the shirt, the “L-A” was bold, meaning that they will beat their longtime rivalry: the Lakers.

At last the score was 101 – 117. Boston was having the best time of their lives playing this game, and they hope to keep playing as well as they did in their game. They also hope to make it to the Finals without their STAR PLAYER, Kyrie Irving.