BOSTON — The Boston Celtics showed the Philadelphia 76ers no mercy on Sunday afternoon, steamrolling their Atlantic Division rivals 123-91 at TD Garden. In many ways, it was the perfect game for the Green Team.
Celtics star Jayson Tatum dazzled with 25 points, 11 rebounds, and 7 assists in just 32 minutes of play, making his Achilles rupture last May feel like ancient history. Fellow Celtics star Jaylen Brown impressed as well, as he recorded 16 of his game-high 26 points in the second half of the blowout win. Stars aside, the Celtics also got great contributions from guys who weren't even close to being rotational players last season. That includes center Neemias Queta, who finished with a playoff career-high 13 points on 100 percent shooting from the field, and wing Jordan Walsh who didn't fill up the stat sheet yet gave the C's plenty of energy and effort.
Celtics take Game 1 in an absolute landslide and the fans remind the Sixers what their fans said during the Play-In Tournament:“We want Boston.” pic.twitter.com/1oJQXmAnvY
As for the Sixers, they lost the turnover battle (15-9), shot under 20 percent from deep, and never led the entire game. They were without star center Joel Embiid due to his recent appendectomy, yet his presence probably wouldn't have changed much in terms of the outcome.
The Celtics are now 7-3 in their last 10 Game 1s and, most importantly, lead their first-round playoff series with the Sixers 1-0. Sunday marked their third-largest margin of victory against the 76ers in the playoffs ever, with their most significant point differential coming over 40 years ago in a 40-point win during Game 1 of the 1982 Eastern Conference Finals.
Boston will enjoy this wire-to-wire win for a bit and then quickly shift its focus to Game 2, which tips off at TD Garden on Tuesday night.
This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown lead Celtics to 123-91 win over 76ers in Game 1