After falling into a 22-point hole in the second quarter, the Boston Celtics came all the way back and then some to defeat the Philadelphia 76ers 108-103 and take a 2-0 in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Rookie Jayson Tatum was huge with 21 points, as were Terry Rozier (20 points, nine assists and seven rebounds), Marcus Smart (19 points and five rebounds) and Al Horford (13 points and 12 rebounds).
The Sixers got big nights from J.J. Redick (23 points) and Joel Embiid (20 points and 14 rebounds), but Ben Simmons was a huge goat as he missed all four shots he took, had just one point and was benched for large portions of the game.
“Coach was saying whoever is the tougher team is going to win,” Rozier said. “They definitely punched us in the mouth at the beginning of the game. We just had to bounce back and get things together.”
In Toronto, LeBron James was excellent for the second straight game and had 43 points and 14 assists to help lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 128-110 win over the Raptors and a 2-0 series lead.
James got some help from Kevin Love (31 points and 11 rebounds) and the rest of the bench, while Demar DeRozan scored 24 points and Kyle Lowry had 21 for the No. 1-seeded Raptors.
Tonight, the Warriors will take on the Pelicans and the Rockets will face off against the Jazz.
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