To say the Celtics headed into Game One of their semifinal-round series against the Sixers as heavy underdogs would be understating the obvious. It wasn鈥檛 just that they had a mere day to rest after a grueling first-round Game Seven. Literally adding injury to insult, news of second-year stalwart Jaylen Brown sitting out the opener hit them an hour before tip-off, his insistence on suiting up trumped by concerns for his ailing right hamstring. As far as handicaps go, theirs was significant; Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, and Daniel Theis were already out.
If there鈥檚 anything the Celtics have of late been much more pronounced at showing while burning rubber at the TD Garden, however, it鈥檚 their next-man-up mentality. Their home-and-away splits had essentially been even in the regular season, proof, if nothing else, of the solid work churned out by their coaching staff headed by Brad Stevens. Meanwhile, they proved to be all but invincible at home against the Bucks, relying as much on familiarity with surroundings as on rabid support from 18,624 fans.
It was, needless to say, in this context that the Celtics approached yesterday鈥檚 match. In part, they were helped by the apparent rust the Sixers displayed early on; the first quarter was a brickfest — even with open shots — for the visitors. And when the green and white saw fit to be even more atrocious hosts by tightening coverage to expected levels, the basket seemed to become even smaller. Parenthetically, the opposite rang true at the other end of the court, with Game Seven heroes Al Horford, Jayson Tatum, and Terry Rozier again leading the charge.
Yesterday was supposed to underscore the strength of the youth invasion, and, indeed, players long on talent and relatively short on experience took center stage. Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons were solid for the Sixers. That said, the Celtics鈥 own crop of developing stars shone even brighter. How they will fare as the series progresses remains to be seen, but, for now, the higher seeds have struck first in a rivalry that brings back memories of the storied eighties and looks to be rekindled anew.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since 大象传媒 introduced a Sports section in 1994.
