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Tatum, Brown spark Celtics past 76ers 114-102 in Game 3

By DAN GELSTON - AP Sports Writer

Game Recap

PHILADELPHIA (AP) Scrambling for a loose ball late in the fourth quarter and the outcome of Game 3 still in the balance, Grant Williams was accidentally stomped face-first into the court by Joel Embiid's wayward foot.

Much like the Celtics after their Game 1 debacle, a bloody, shaken Williams absorbed the beating and came back to help stick it to the suddenly shaky 76ers.

“That was kind of nasty,” Celtics guard Jayson Tatum said.

So, too, is what the Celtics have done to Embiid, James Harden and the rest of the Sixers while seizing control of the series.

Tatum scored 27 points, Jaylen Brown had 23 and Boston spoiled Embiid's MVP coronation, beating Philadelphia 114-102 Friday night to take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Game 4 is Sunday in Philadelphia.

Williams didn't score a point in 23 minutes, but his toughness in shaking off the sneaker to the back of his head symbolized the way Boston has continued to fight after a Game 1 embarrassment.

“I was like, ’Dang, I really got curb-stomped,'" Williams said. "I'm just thankful he didn’t like fully just lean his weight onto it. He definitely got me pretty badly. But then I think he felt that he landed on something, so he picked his foot up. It hurts a little bit.”

Embiid had 30 points and 13 rebounds in his second game back from a sprained right knee after receiving his MVP trophy in a pregame ceremony.

Boston gave 76ers fans little reason to cheer again.

The Sixers pulled within five on De’Anthony Melton’s 3-pointer to get the crowd back into the game for all of 20 seconds before Malcolm Brogdon countered with a 3 to give Boston a 100-92 lead. Al Horford crushed the Sixers again - as he has most of his career - when he buried a 3 for a seven-point lead.

Embiid, forced to try and win it alone without any serious offensive help, missed a pull-up 18-footer and Tatum drained a jumper that all but put the game away. Tatum hit one more 3 for good measure and the Celtics won their second straight.

“We just held the ball too long, too much,” Embiid said. “We don't start our actions fast enough. That's why it looks so slow. We're not scoring the ball. We're not making shots.”

Embiid was flanked by his parents and teammates as he received the MVP trophy from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver before Game 3. Sixers fans roared as Embiid hoisted the trophy high over his head. Then the moment turned touching. Embiid’s young son, Arthur, ran onto the court and into the arms of his father.

Embiid held his son, who wore a “My dad is the MVP” T-shirt, and wiped tears from his eyes as fans chanted “MVP! MVP!”

“Honestly, he’s the main reason why I’m really here,” Embiid said. “Becoming a father really changed my whole life. I just wanted to show him a good example.”

The good times didn’t last long.

Boston spiked any emotional carryover from the ceremony and raced to a quick 10-point lead.

The Sixers spent the rest of the game playing catch-up. All the energy spent to come back and take brief leads quickly evaporated and the Celtics snagged them right back.

Embiid gamely tried to carry the Sixers on one good knee, but got almost no help from Harden and Tyrese Maxey. Harden’s 45-point effort in a Game 1 upset in Boston seemed more an aberration than a sign of things to come. Harden followed his 2 of 14 in a Game 2 loss with 3-for-14 shooting for 16 points.

Harden's 5-for-28 shooting the last two games is the worst for him over any two-game span in his career, regular season or playoffs, in which he’s attempted at least 20 field goals.

“We’re just trying to make him work as much as we can,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “Trying to keep him off the free-throw line. Guys are just working to take away those details.”

Harden failed to pick up the Sixers in the third, when he could have changed the game.

He did hit P.J. Tucker for a 3 that pulled the Sixers to 74-72. Harden then missed two straight jumpers and fouled Brown on a tough layup. Brown made the free throw and the Celtics were back up by eight.

Harden oddly passed up plenty of easy looks and layups and also committed five turnovers.

Embiid had scored 53 points against the Celtics in an early-April matchup, but could never get cooking in Game 3. The Celtics double-teamed Embiid from the jump and he looked gassed by the end of the third. Without a teammate he could trust to make shots, Embiid took the scoring load on himself and scored 12 points in the third when he played the entire quarter.

“I didn't get the ball enough,” Embiid said. “Not to score, but also to make plays for my teammates. They had a tendency of doubling quite a bit tonight, so I thought we could have used that to our advantage. When we did, we also missed a lot of wide-open 3s.”

TIP-INS

Celtics: Tatum added 10 rebounds. ... Boston 16 of 45 3-pointers.

76ers: Made 12 of 12 free throws in the first quarter. ... Made 16 of 37 3s.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP-Sports

PHILADELPHIA -- Life is pretty good for Red Sox left fielder Masataka Yoshida these days. In the midst of a 15-game hitting streak, Yoshida got to meet his idol prior to Saturday’s game against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

That would be Bryce Harper. The same Bryce Harper that Yoshida wore No. 34 in honor of in Japan. The same Bryce Harper that led Yoshida to name his French Bulldog, “Harper.”

Brotherly Love. pic.twitter.com/mhV3YX2CYy

— Red Sox (@RedSox) May 6, 2023

As part of the meet-and-greet, Harper gifted Yoshida a signed, game-used bat from last year’s National League Championship Series. Harper inscribed it, “To Masataka, MVPX2, GU: NLCS bat.”

“Obviously that’s going to be my treasure,” Yoshida said.

The other bat Yoshida received had a caricature of Harper’s face near the top of it. And Harper also gave him a pair of signed, green spikes.

Here is what Bryce Harper gave to a very grateful Masataka Yoshida. pic.twitter.com/vPpridWR3L

— Ian Browne (@IanMBrowne) May 6, 2023

When Yoshida was completing his college career in Japan, Harper became his favorite player.

“The last year of my college career, he was a really appealing player to me and he has a great swing, and that’s why I became his fan,” Yoshida said. “He’s one year older than me, but he had already played really well in big league games and that’s the reason I became such a fan of his.”

When Yoshida was playing for the Orix Buffaloes, Harper sent him a jersey. Yoshida gleefully posed with that jersey on social media.

Red Sox outfielder Masataka Yoshida is a Bryce Harper superfan. Tonight, the MLB rookie will hit second for the Red Sox against the Phillies. pic.twitter.com/XSaikB6rBh

Harper, who remembers how much he looked up to Yankees stars Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams during his youth, is honored that Yoshida feels that way about him.

“Yeah, it’s really cool,” Harper said. “When you’re younger, you try to look up to guys or emulate guys. For me, that’d be my dad. I remember him working his tail off just to provide for us. To be able to have that impact on other people, it’s pretty cool.

“It’s a very humbling situation to be somebody that is looked up to in any walk of life. To be able to be that person for somebody is pretty cool.”

Harper is taking note of how swiftly Yoshida (.315/.400/.537, six homers, 24 RBIs in 108 at-bats) is adapting to the highest level of baseball in the world.

“He’s been able to come over here and have major success in his first couple weeks,” Harper said. “Especially in that market in Boston, you guys know how tough it is up there, for him to do that at this point, it’s really cool.”

The schedule for this Red Sox-Phillies series couldn’t have come at a better time for Yoshida. He was standing in left field on Friday night when Harper, who made a swift recovery from Tommy John surgery, received a standing ovation prior to his first home at-bat for the Phillies since Game 5 of the 2022 World Series.

“I think he is an obvious superstar because when he comes up for the at-bat, he makes the fans excited,” Yoshida said.

Todd Zolecki contributed to this story.

PHILADELPHIA — It was closing in on 10 p.m. as the Red Sox were meeting around the pitchers’ mound at Citizens Bank Park on Friday, enjoying a celebratory handshake line after a tidy 5-3 win over the Phillies.

With that, Phase 1 of the great Boston takeover of Philadelphia was complete.

One down, one to go.

Right about the same time, just a few parking lots over and a short walk down Broad Street, the Celtics were looking to make it a double Boston knockout, but it was one of their own who’d been knocked down. Grant Williams, on the wrong end of a Joel Embiid size-17 high top, was face down on the hardwood, an involuntary faceplant leaving him more than a little bit dazed and, as seen once he made his way back to the bench, bleeding from the mouth.

But the Celtics, like Williams, got up from the mat, using the final five-plus minutes to fight off one last run by the 76ers for a win and a 2-1 lead in their second-round playoff series. A big 3-pointer from Malcolm Brogdon, another by Al Horford, then 7 straight points from Jayson Tatum and a Philly five-second violation turnover, and the home fans were streaming for the exits.

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They wore the same sad faces of their baseball counterparts.

And thus was it two down, three to go in this epic Boston-Philadelphia sports weekend, a five-games-in-three-days basketball-baseball bonanza that put two of the most rabid and most loyal East Coast sports cities in the same ring, daring each other to emerge victorious.

The early returns lived up to the worst of the Philly fan nightmares, aptly described under a Friday Philadelphia Inquirer headline, “The Bostons are Coming, and Philly is Wicked Chapped,” in which local columnist Marcus Hayes opened with the line, “Like a springtime Nor’easter, the Red Sox and Celtics descend on Philadelphia on Friday. They will only be slightly less welcome than locusts, or plague.”

“Should be an intense weekend,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora mused before his team’s first pitch Friday, only joking that he might just get himself tossed so he could head over to watch the Celtics game in person. That didn’t happen, of course, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t be checking scores all weekend.

“It’s too bad we’re playing at the same time, and Sunday we’re hopping on a plane to Atlanta … These guys last year, they fell short [losing in the NBA Finals to Golden State], and they’re on a mission. When they’re playing at that high level, intensity, it’s hard to beat them. But it’s the playoffs. It should be fun.”

With a big win by the Sox (a Chris Sale-anchored gem for the team’s seventh straight) followed by an important win by the Celtics (a balanced, dominant effort that recaptured home-court advantage), it was a fun night for the Bostons, especially for those who made the journey south to make sure their Celtic green jerseys and Red Sox red numbers were represented among the throngs of people filling the streets around the area known as the sports complex. But if the visitors were like salmon swimming upstream early, they were the last ones left standing late.

A win for chowder over cheesesteaks, for Dunkin’ over Wawa, for Ben Affleck over Bradley Cooper, the Tea Party over the Liberty Bell, and Sam Adams over Ben Franklin. As sports cities go, Boston and Philadelphia might have more in common than they care to admit, small big cities, who, in the words of Sox DH Justin Turner “wear their emotions on their sleeves, who cheer you on when you do good things and let you know when you’re not doing good things.”

But don’t be too fooled — though they might be bound by their mutual disdain for all things New York, they are distinct rivals with a rich and longstanding history of their own, of Larry Bird and Kevin McHale rueing the inability to stop Boston Strangler Andrew Toney, but of getting their revenge across a decade of Celtics greatness.

It didn’t stop with the Celtics. Overall, Boston owns 39 titles in the four major sports. Philly? 17. Even better: Boston has won 12 of those since 2001. Philly? Two. And on it goes: The Celtics have beaten the Sixers in 14 of their 21 previous postseason series, including the last five. Heck, Friday night’s Sox win made it eight in their previous 12 appearances at Citizens Bank Park.

There have been blips of course, moments Boston would rather forget. Philly Philly will live on in infamy, that “Philly Special” Super Bowl trick-play-fueled victory in Minnesota forever leaving a stain on Tom Brady’s amazing Patriots reign. But nothing changes the fact that the Patriots still won six Super Bowls with Brady and Bill Belichick together. The Eagles’ hero of that Super Bowl LII shocker, Nick Foles, was released on Friday by the Colts.

And even while the Bruins shake off the embarrassment of going from this year’s Presidents’ Trophy winners to first-round playoff losers, they can at least claim a Stanley Cup this generation, their 2011 win far more recent than the Flyers’ last one in 1975. That back-to-back title run did start at the Bruins’ expense, coming a year after the Broad Street Bullies rode a Bernie Parent shutout in Game 6 to beat the Bruins for the Cup.

Now it’s all up to the Celtics, and as they swallowed Embiid’s pregame MVP award presentation with their convincing win, as they silenced Game 1 hero James Harden with their dominating defense, as their baseball brethren Red Sox worked next door to mute Bryce Harper’s emotional homecoming after a rapid return from Tommy John surgery, it was an all-Boston night in Philadelphia.

With the first two wins down, it was three more to go for a sweep. Score one for the Bostons.

PHILADELPHIA -- There has been a fascination recently, maybe even an obsession, with the Phillies’ leadoff hitter.

The truth is the Phils’ play this past week has not hinged on who hit first.

Philadelphia has lost six consecutive games, following Saturday night’s 7-4 loss to the Red Sox at Citizens Bank Park, and it is easy to see why. Phillies starters have a 9.91 ERA (29 earned runs in 26 2/3 innings) in those losses and a 5.03 ERA this season, including the five runs left-hander Bailey Falter allowed in 3 2/3 innings on Saturday.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it is the first time Phils starters have allowed four-plus runs in at least six consecutive starts since a six-game stretch from Sept. 1-7, 2015.

It is just the second time Phillies starters have done that since April 2009, when they allowed four-plus runs in seven consecutive starts.

“I guess every guy has been a little different,” catcher J.T. Realmuto said. “We’re just not being consistent. We’re falling behind a little too often. We’re getting in a lot of three-ball counts. It’s not all the time. It seems like it’s one inning every outing where we just kind of lose focus. For the most part, the guys have thrown the ball well.

“It’s once things start happening it seems to tumble pretty quickly and kind of snowball on us. When we get guys out there [on the bases], just slow it down the best we can. Just figure out a way to get through it. It just seems like it’s speeding up on us and we’re not able to make the big pitch when we need to.”

Falter (0-6, 5.75 ERA) retired the first nine batters he faced through three innings, then faced nine batters in the fourth inning as the Red Sox scored five runs to take a 5-1 lead.

“I honestly don’t know what happened,” Falter said.

“The first time through, he got two strikes then finished people off,” manager Rob Thomson said. “He expanded, they expanded. The second time through, he got two strikes, he left some balls in the middle of the plate. He didn’t expand, he didn’t finish them off.”

Asked if he expects Falter to make his next start, Thomson said, “I do at this point. We have not talked about anything else.”

Phillies left-hander Ranger Suárez could provide a lift to the rotation next weekend in Colorado. He will make a rehab start on Sunday with Triple-A Lehigh Valley. If he is healthy, he will rejoin the team in Denver.

Suárez will replace left-hander Matt Strahm, who has moved to the bullpen. Strahm posted the best ERA of Phillies starters this season (3.51 ERA in six starts), but he has not pitched more than 44 2/3 innings in a season since 2019.

The Phils think Strahm’s workload as a starter was unsustainable.

“We don’t want him to break,” Thomson said recently.

Beyond Suárez, there are few viable options to help. Philadelphia knew that might be the case entering the season. The Phillies said they wanted to sign more veteran starters before Spring Training, but those starters did not see much of an opportunity behind Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Taijuan Walker and Suárez.

Right-hander Nick Nelson will start on Sunday with Double-A Reading. He has pitched well recently, but Thomson said he sees Nelson more as a “bulk reliever.”

IronPigs left-handers Michael Plassmeyer (1-2, 6.75 ERA) and Cristopher Sánchez (0-1, 4.00 ERA) are the only other starters on the 40-man roster. Noah Skirrow is 3-0 with a 3.38 ERA with the IronPigs. He is not on the 40-man roster.

Mick Abel, ranked as the club’s No. 2 prospect by MLB Pipeline, is 2-1 with a 2.53 ERA with Double-A Reading. No. 1 prospect Andrew Painter is progressing slowly following a UCL injury in his right elbow in March.

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“We just have to keep planning better, executing better,” Thomson said. “I have full faith in all of them, really. We just have to do a better job.”

The Phillies turn to Walker (6.91 ERA) in Sunday’s series finale against Boston. He allowed eight runs in 3 1/3 innings on Monday in Los Angeles.

“I have all the confidence in the world in Tai,” Realmuto said. “He’s kind of the same as the rest of the guys. He’s just got to attack really. He’s got really good stuff. Get ahead of guys and put them away.”

PHILADELPHIA -- — Scrambling for a loose ball late in the fourth quarter and the outcome of Game 3 still in the balance, Grant Williams was accidentally stomped face-first into the court by Joel Embiid's wayward foot.

Much like the Celtics after their Game 1 debacle, a bloody, shaken Williams absorbed the beating and came back to help stick it to the suddenly shaky 76ers.

“That was kind of nasty,” Celtics guard Jayson Tatum said.

So, too, is what the Celtics have done to Embiid, James Harden and the rest of the Sixers while seizing control of the series.

Tatum scored 27 points, Jaylen Brown had 23 and Boston spoiled Embiid's MVP coronation, beating Philadelphia 114-102 Friday night to take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Game 4 is Sunday in Philadelphia.

Williams didn't score a point in 23 minutes, but his toughness in shaking off the sneaker to the back of his head symbolized the way Boston has continued to fight after a Game 1 embarrassment.

“I was like, ’Dang, I really got curb-stomped,'" Williams said. "I'm just thankful he didn’t like fully just lean his weight onto it. He definitely got me pretty badly. But then I think he felt that he landed on something, so he picked his foot up. It hurts a little bit.”

Embiid had 30 points and 13 rebounds in his second game back from a sprained right knee after receiving his MVP trophy in a pregame ceremony.

Boston gave 76ers fans little reason to cheer again.

The Sixers pulled within five on De’Anthony Melton’s 3-pointer to get the crowd back into the game for all of 20 seconds before Malcolm Brogdon countered with a 3 to give Boston a 100-92 lead. Al Horford crushed the Sixers again — as he has most of his career — when he buried a 3 for a seven-point lead.

Embiid, forced to try and win it alone without any serious offensive help, missed a pull-up 18-footer and Tatum drained a jumper that all but put the game away. Tatum hit one more 3 for good measure and the Celtics won their second straight.

“We just held the ball too long, too much,” Embiid said. “We don't start our actions fast enough. That's why it looks so slow. We're not scoring the ball. We're not making shots.”

Embiid was flanked by his parents and teammates as he received the MVP trophy from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver before Game 3. Sixers fans roared as Embiid hoisted the trophy high over his head. Then the moment turned touching. Embiid’s young son, Arthur, ran onto the court and into the arms of his father.

Embiid held his son, who wore a “My dad is the MVP” T-shirt, and wiped tears from his eyes as fans chanted “MVP! MVP!”

“Honestly, he’s the main reason why I’m really here,” Embiid said. “Becoming a father really changed my whole life. I just wanted to show him a good example.”

The good times didn’t last long.

Boston spiked any emotional carryover from the ceremony and raced to a quick 10-point lead.

The Sixers spent the rest of the game playing catch-up. All the energy spent to come back and take brief leads quickly evaporated and the Celtics snagged them right back.

Embiid gamely tried to carry the Sixers on one good knee, but got almost no help from Harden and Tyrese Maxey. Harden’s 45-point effort in a Game 1 upset in Boston seemed more an aberration than a sign of things to come. Harden followed his 2 of 14 in a Game 2 loss with 3-for-14 shooting for 16 points.

Harden's 5-for-28 shooting the last two games is the worst for him over any two-game span in his career, regular season or playoffs, in which he’s attempted at least 20 field goals.

“We’re just trying to make him work as much as we can,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “Trying to keep him off the free-throw line. Guys are just working to take away those details.”

Harden failed to pick up the Sixers in the third, when he could have changed the game.

He did hit P.J. Tucker for a 3 that pulled the Sixers to 74-72. Harden then missed two straight jumpers and fouled Brown on a tough layup. Brown made the free throw and the Celtics were back up by eight.

Harden oddly passed up plenty of easy looks and layups and also committed five turnovers.

Embiid had scored 53 points against the Celtics in an early-April matchup, but could never get cooking in Game 3. The Celtics double-teamed Embiid from the jump and he looked gassed by the end of the third. Without a teammate he could trust to make shots, Embiid took the scoring load on himself and scored 12 points in the third when he played the entire quarter.

“I didn't get the ball enough,” Embiid said. “Not to score, but also to make plays for my teammates. They had a tendency of doubling quite a bit tonight, so I thought we could have used that to our advantage. When we did, we also missed a lot of wide-open 3s.”

TIP-INS

Celtics: Tatum added 10 rebounds. ... Boston 16 of 45 3-pointers.

76ers: Made 12 of 12 free throws in the first quarter. ... Made 16 of 37 3s.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP--Sports