Celtics push past Sixers, brace for Cavaliers next
Jayson Tatum caught a pass underneath the basket, shook off a hit and went up for the go-ahead layup with 23 seconds left, and the Boston Celtics beat the Philadelphia 76ers 114112 on Wednesday night to advance to the Eastern Conference finals.
Tatum scored 25 points, Jaylen Brown had 24, and Terry Rozier 17, sinking a pair of free throws after forcing Joel Embiid’s turnover in the final seconds. Al Horford added 15 points and eight rebounds for Boston, which will play Cleveland for the second straight year for a spot in the NBA Finals. Game 1 is Sunday in Boston.
Embiid had 27 points and 12 rebounds for the 76ers, who roared back into the playoffs for the first time since 2012, winning won 20 out of 21 games before Boston beat them three straight times to open the conference semifinals. Dario Saric had 27 points and 10 rebounds, and Ben Simmons added 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
Embiid had a chance to tie it after Tatum made it 111-109 with 18.8 seconds left. But he missed a contested layup, failed to tip it back in and lost the ball out of bounds with 10.8 seconds left.
PEERS VOTE CASEY TOP COACH >> The Toronto Raptors’ Dwane Casey was the
best coach this season, according to his fellow NBA coaches. Casey was announced as the coachof-the-year selection by the National Basketball Coaches Association. The award is voted on only by the league’s head coaches.
Other coaches who received votes were Philadelphia’s Brett Brown, Houston’s Mike D’Antoni, Indiana’s Nate McMillan, San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich, the Los Angeles Clippers’ Doc Rivers, Utah’s Quin Snyder and Portland’s Terry Stotts.
GEORGE HAS KNEE SCOPED >> Oklahoma City Thunder forward Paul George has had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. George is expected to return to normal offseason activities in six to eight weeks.
NEW ROLE FOR PEJA >> The Kings promoted Peja Stojakovic to assistant general manager. General manager Vlade Divac announced the move to put Stojakovic in a role where he will assist in player development, talent evaluation and oversight of the team’s G League affiliate.