The Boston Celtics beat the Philadelphia 76ers 108-100 in Game 3 at the Wells Fargo Center on Friday night, taking a 2-1 series lead. [1] Boston controlled the second half on the road in a building that had spent the first half determined not to let it. The paper carried Friday's triple as a stress test of the two-seed narrative; Saturday morning, Boston is the seed that answered.
Jayson Tatum scored the points the box score expects him to score, but the swing was on the defensive end and on Marcus Smart, whose ball pressure across the third quarter cost Tyrese Maxey three of his eight turnovers. [2] Maxey himself shot well — twenty-eight points, an efficient line — but spent the back end of the third in foul trouble that broke Philadelphia's offensive rhythm.
The Sixers had built the series narrative around home court. They lost it. Boston now has the option of closing in five if it holds Game 4, and the option of recovering at home if it does not. [3] The two-seed question that hung over Friday — whether the bracket's chalk would survive Game 3 — has its first clean answer.
The other two Game 3 results will not change what Boston did with theirs.
-- AMARA OKONKWO, Lagos