Recap: Celtics cruise to blowout win over the Sixers

Celtics did what good teams are supposed to do to lowly tanking teams, beat the snot out of them. This game was never in doubt from start to finish as the Celtics went on to win 108-89. The win puts the Celtics at 30-36, and in a tie with Indiana for the seventh seed with Boston owning the tiebreaker. Miami beat Cleveland to join the 30-36 club too. As this is being written the Charlotte Hornets are being demolished by the Utah Jazz right now which would give the Celtics even more leverage in the standings.

Celtics got off to a quick start 9-2 start with Bradley scoring 5 of them. The Sixers looked like…. well the Sixers. They missed layups, dribbled off their own feet, and looked like they didn’t know their own plays. Celtics quickly ballooned their lead to 27-11 on a hot 73% shooting, and by the end of the quarter it was 38-18, the Celtics biggest 1st quarter lead of the season. The Sixers had 5 first quarter turnovers and shot 30% from the field. The second quarter started off slow with the reserves struggling to shoot from the floor. Thomas Robinson scored the Sixers first five points and seemed like the only one who had anything to play for. Sixers brought out a full court press to try to get some transition opportunities, but got nothing. About midway the Celtics had the Sixers on the ropes up 51-24. They’d go on to close the half 57-34 with Turner scoring 6 of his 10 points in the final 5 minutes.

The second half started with much of the same. Sixers got a lot more aggressive taking it to the basket, but Boston had an answer every time. Smart had a couple of impressive drives to the basket and midways through the 3rd it was 75-52 Celtics. By the end of the third the whole starting 5 for Boston was in double digits, and Celtics were up 89-68. With the game in no doubt during the 4th the Celtics were in cruise control. Sixers would get it to the ‘teens, but Celtics would quickly answer and push it back to twenty. Shav Randolph, James Young, and Gino time type of ending.

The Green