Youngsters power Boston win
BOSTON — Boston’s rising stars stalled the Process and led the Celtics to a Game 1 win in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Point guard Terry Rozier scored 29 points, and first-year forward Jayson Tatum had a personal-high 28 to outplay redshirt rookie Ben Simmons on Monday night and lead Boston to a 117-101 win over the 76ers.
With much of the attention on Philadelphia youngsters Joel Embiid and Simmons, Boston’s youthful Tatum and Rozier led the way. Two days after a career-playoff-high 26 points in Game 7 against Milwaukee, Rozier topped it and added eight rebounds and six assists.
“It’s been a dream come true. I want to keep going,” said Rozier, who was wearing a Drew Bledsoe Patriots jersey to milk one more chuckle out of his pseudofeud with vanquished Milwaukee guard Eric Bledsoe. “I’m just a guy just living in the moment.”
Embiid scored 31 with 13 rebounds for Philadelphia, which lost for he second time in 22 games. Simmons, the likely Rookie of the Year, scored 18 with seven boards and six assists.
But with six days of rest since eliminating Miami, the 76ers missed 15 of their first 20 shots and hit 5 of 26 from three-point range to lose for just the second time since March 13.
“We’re NBA players and we have to be ready,” Embiid said. “We weren’t ready tonight.”
Al Horford had 26 points and seven rebounds for Boston, which will host Game 2 on Thursday night. The Celtics are hoping to have guard Jaylen Brown back from a hamstring injury he sustained in the clincher against the Bucks, leaving him sidelined with Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward.
Playing in place of Irving, Rozier picked up where he left off in the first round with 10 points and six assists in the first quarter Monday night. He was 7-for-9 from three-point range overall, combining with Tatum to overshadow the lottery picks accumulated by Philadelphia during the Process.
The first pick in the 2016 draft who sat out all of last season with an injury, Simmons was heckled by the Boston crowd with chants of “Not a Rookie!” In the fourth quarter, as Tatum stepped to the free-throw line to protect a double-digit lead, the chant turned to “He’s a Rookie!”
“I love when people talk trash,” Embiid said. “Keep bringing it, and we’ll see how it goes.”