Celtics beat 76ers 89-88 in Summer League debut via Tatum's dagger

The Boston Celtics defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 89-88 in their Summer League debut behind monster performances from rookie Jayson Tatum and sophomore talent Jaylen Brown, A.K.A. "7/11 get buckets 24/7", as they have so billed themselves.


The nickname proved an accurate one, winning a moral of victory of sorts against those who questioned Danny Ainge's choice to trade down and take Tatum third instead of Markelle Fultz, who headlined the 76ers roster and nearly stole the game with a flashy reverse layup blocked by Brown at the last second.

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Tatum had an outstanding debut, putting up 21 points on 8-of-17 shooting including the game winner, with seven boards and five steals, to boot. Brown led all scorers with 29 (including hitting three of four treys) plus 13 rebounds, a steal and a game-winning block mentioned above. Ante Zizic had nine points, five rebounds and a block in his first outing as a Celtic, Abdel Nader added 13 points and seven boards, and Demetrius Jackson and Semi Ojeleye added six and five points, respectively.


Philadelphia's new guys were far from bad, however, and very nearly stole the win; Fultz logged 17 points, but it came on six-of-16 shooting, and Markelle had one more turnover (four) than blocks (three); still, the Sixers kept the game close throughout, and even built a double-digit lead in the third behind Timothy Luwawu-Cabarot's 16 points and seven rebounds, Aaron Harrison's 12 points, Alex Potythress' 11 points and 8 boards, and Isaiah Miles ten points and seven rebounds.


Fultz and company will get another crack at taking down the Celtics' Summer League squad to close out Boston's schedule of games on July 11th at 6:30 p.m. at the Las Vegas Summer League. They next face the San Antonio Spurs' Summer League team this Wednesday, July 5th at 7 p.m.


For more stories about the offseason on CelticsLife, click here. For more by Justin, click here.



Photo, data via NBA.com
Follow Justin at @justinquinnn


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