Good enough for starters
C’s knock off Sixers in opener
For an opening night, this one was a little off-kilter, with Kyrie Irving turning to his playmaking skills when his shot took an early trip south, and Aron Baynes tying for the team lead in made 3-pointers.
But the matchup was as the Celtics remembered it when last they met Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference semifinals, this time handling the Sixers 105-87 at the Garden.
Irving, looking to pass early, finished with seven points and seven assists on 2-for-14 shooting.
“You won’t see another game like that from Kyrie,” C’s coach Brad Stevens said. “Everyone talks about all the time Gordon missed. (Irving) missed six months, and it takes time to get back into it.”
In a sign of where he is headed on this team, Jayson Tatum led the way with 23 points on 9-for-17 shooting. Marcus Morris, the most efficient Celtic with 7-for12 shooting, finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Al Horford set the defensive tone with five blocks, including back-to-back swats of Joel Embiid during one early and furious exchange in the post.
Gordon Hayward, under a minutes restriction in his return after a year away from the game, worked back into his shot, finishing with 10 points and five rebounds in 24 minutes. He also hit one of the Celtics’ final daggers — a 3-pointer with 1:39 left for a 103-87 lead.
Morris scored six of the Celtics’ last seven points of the third quarter, including a tip-in off a missed Hayward free throw, and a 20-footer that was good for a frame-closing 77-66 lead.
Tatum had 20 points on 8-for-16 shooting by then. Irving was 1-for-11 from the floor, but was back on the floor for the start of the fourth.
Brown, another cold Celtic (2-for-10 over the first three quarters), loosened up with a 3 and a turnaround from the lane to open the C’s scoring in the fourth — the latter for an 82-67 lead.
By the time Irving cut off a give-and-go with Baynes for only his second basket of the night, the Celtics hit a peak lead (to that point) of 17 points (87-70).
Philadephia, with Embiid and Ben Simmons doing most of the scoring from the line, pulled as close as nine points (94-85) before the Celtics drove in another nail.
Tatum, isolated on Embiid at the left elbow, lost the Sixers center with a crossover dribble, went right, and as the shot clock expired banked a straight-on jumper from the foul line.
Terry Rozier came right back with his first 3-pointer, and Tatum gave the Celtics a 100-85 lead from the line with 2:34 left.
Irving was 0-for-8 in the first half, and despite being isolated on Robert Covington with 13 seconds left, passed out of the scoring opportunity to Tatum, who buried the 17-footer for a 47-42 halftime lead.
Offensively the Celtics were predictably rusty. Hayward finally got going with back-to-back jumpers in the second quarter, but was 2-for-6 in 11 regulated minutes. Brown was 2-for9. Overall the team held onto the lead despite shooting 36.5 percent, including 25 percent from downtown.
Irving finally got his first two points with 10:46 left in the third quarter from the line, and after his ninth straight miss courtesy of an Embiid block, buried his first basket from downtown a minute and a half later.
The Celtics hit a peak lead of 14 points (61-47) before the Sixers chipped their way back within reach, with the C’s exiting the third with a 77-66 lead.
The Celtics, after a requisite amount of brick laying on both sides, put the first run on the board with a 15-6 burst for a 19-11 lead on a Horford three-point play.
The Celtics center had started hot defensively with three first quarter blocks, including back-toback rejections on Embiid in the same possession.
Tatum, who scored nine of the Celtics’ first 11 points, took the scoring burden on early, with Irving (0-for-3) needing some time to find a rhythm.