BOSTON–The Philadelphia 76ers were able to walk away with one impressive 119-115 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals in the absence of Joel Embiid on Monday. They were able to do so mostly due to the heroics of James Harden, but they got a big boost from the bench.
De’Anthony Melton hopped off the bench and poured in 17 huge points including knocking down his first five triples of the night. The Sixers do not win this game without his contributions. Especially, in the first half when the Celtics couldn’t miss a shot.
“Oh my God,” said coach Doc Rivers. “James and De’Anthony pretty much saved us in the first half. That game could’ve gotten away from us. De’Anthony Melton just makes shots. He really does. He was just ready to play, made big shots, made some great defensive plays with his hands.”
There was a stretch in the second quarter with Harden on the bench and the Sixers needed somebody to step up and provide some offense. Melton obliged as he scored 14 points in the second quarter including shooting 4-for-4 from deep which was a huge help in this one.
“I felt good coming in today (Monday). Honestly,” said Melton. “Just the energy around the whole team, going around the whole organization was just m good vibes and stuff like that. So I just wanted to go out there and play with confidence. Jo going down, it’s more attempts, more shots out there, more opportunity so just trying to take advantage of everything. My teammates was trusting me so I just kept shooting.”
The Sixers will need more efforts such as this one from Melton in Game 2 of this series on Wednesday.
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Story originally appeared on Sixers Wire