Henry Roldán
The semifinal series between two major rivals in the NBA Eastern Conference couldn’t have ended any other way than with a Game 7 showdown between the 76ers vs Celtics. This epic game will take place on Sunday at the legendary TD Garden.
On Thursday night, Boston showed why they were the favorites by defeating Philadelphia 95-86, thanks to a great fourth quarter performance by Jayson Tatum. This victory forced the decisive final game.
Without further ado, JefeBet has the ultimate preview for the crucial game between the Philadelphia 76ers vs Boston Celtics.
Predictions, Odds, and Betting Preview for the Philadelphia 76ers vs Boston Celtics NBA Playoffs Game 7 Round 2 on May 14, 2023
- Where: TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts
- When: Sunday, May 14, 2023, [time to be announced]
Betting on the Philadelphia 76ers
- Series Record: 3-3
- Postseason Record: 7-3
- Regular Season Record: 54-28
The 76ers may regret their loss on Wednesday for a long time after leading in the fourth quarter and missing the opportunity to close out the series at home.
Philadelphia once again struggled on the offensive side, scoring just 86 points and shooting 36.1% from the field. These numbers cannot be tolerated in such an important game and are even worse than their performance in Game 2, where they scored 87 points with a 39.2% field goal percentage.
While Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey did their job with 26 points each, no other team member scored more than 13 points. Additionally, the 76ers missed 15 out of 20 shots in the last quarter, scoring only 13 points in the period and just five in the last six minutes.
Therefore, this loss can’t be blamed on the defensive side. For the first time in the series, Boston failed to score over 100 points, only shooting just over 42% from the field, and the 76ers forced 18 turnovers from their opponents. Without a doubt, it was a great effort that was not rewarded with a win.
Betting on the Boston Celtics
- Series Record: 3-3
- Postseason Record: 7-6
- Regular Season Record: 57-25
When everything seemed lost for the Celtics, their star player Jayson Tatum showed his class with a fantastic performance in the fourth quarter that could mean the qualification of his team.
After missing his first 10 field goal attempts and entering the final quarter with only seven points, Tatum showed no mercy in the decisive moment by making four three-pointers and finishing the game with 19 points. His points combined with 22 from Marcus Smart and 17 from Jaylen Brown helped secure the win for the Celtics.
In addition, Boston had a great night shooting from beyond the arc, which was the first time they had succeeded against the strong defense of the 76ers. Although they only shot 42.3% (78-33) from the field, they finished the game with 42.9% (35-15) accuracy from three-point range.
While the offense performed well, the Celtics also dominated on the defensive side. For the second time in the series, they held the 76ers to under 90 points and the opposition finished shooting below 37% from the field, missing 15 of their 20 attempts in the final quarter.
JefeBet Prediction
It looks like the Celtics are likely to clinch the series after their big Game 6 win in Philadelphia. However, the 76ers have already won twice in Boston during this series, and in these playoffs, the Celtics have actually played better as visitors than they have at home.
That’s why we should expect a pretty tight game. It will probably be similar to Game 4, which went into overtime, and if the Celtics had won that game, they could have turned the series around.
It’s true that the 76ers’ offense has struggled a couple of times against Boston, but their defense has also been up to the challenge, and we can expect them to play just as well in the deciding game.
In the end, the Celtics will come out on top, but we shouldn’t expect Philadelphia, with the season MVP on their team, to make it easy for them in such an important match.
Prediction: 76ers Spread (BOS 106-PHI 100)
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