Brown scores 25, Celtics spoil Embiid’s return in 121-87 win

BOSTON (AP)— Jaylen Brown scored 25 points and the Boston Celtics rolled pastthe Philadelphia 76ers 121-87 on Wednesday night, spoiling thereturn of reigning league MVP Joel Embiid.

The Celticstied the series at one game apiece as the Eastern Conferencesemifinals series shifts to Philadelphia for Game 3 on Friday.

MalcolmBrogdon added 23 points, connecting on six of Boston’s 203-pointers. Derrick White and Marcus Smart added 15 points apiece.Jayson Tatum played most of the game in foul trouble and was heldto seven points.

Bostonratcheted up its defense and limited a 76ers team that hit 173-pointers in its Game 1 win to just 6 of 30 from beyond the arc onWednesday. The Celtics led by as many as 36 points in the fourthquarter.

TobiasHarris led the 76ers with 16 points. Embiid finished with 15points, three rebounds and five blocks in his first game back froma sprained right knee that caused him to miss the final game of the76ers’ first-round sweep of Brooklyn. He also sat outPhiladelphia’s Game 1 win on Monday.

Embiid’sreturn came a day after being voted MVP for the first time.

He wascleared to play by doctors and training staff following a pregame,on-court workout. That was after he did some light work during the76ers’ morning shootaround.

Tatumpicked up three fouls in the first half. He was called for hisfourth at the 7:34 mark of the third quarter when he knocked Hardento the floor while trying to fight through a screen.

It forcedhim to play a little less aggressively and helped Philadelphia cutwhat had been an 18-point Boston lead to 73-60 with just over fourminutes to play in the third quarter.

But Tatum’steammates picked up the slack, leading the way as the Celticsclosed the quarter on a 19-5 run to get it back up to 92-65entering the fourth.

Embiidstarted slowly offensively, but with the 76ers struggling to makeshots from the outside, he made an almost immediate impactdefensively.

First,heblocked an early shot bySmartand then forced White to adjust another attempt.Embiid had five blocks his first 13 minutes of action.

But hisconditioning was noticeably lacking as he lumbered into sets attimes. He played just shy of seven minutes in the first quarterbefore getting his first rest. He returned for the final 1:05 ofthe period.

Embiidknocked down his first field goal of the night. a jumper over GrantWilliams, with 21.4 seconds left before tripping as he backpedaledback down the court. He quickly rose to his feet. He finished thefirst half with 13 points, going 7 of 8 from the free throwline.

TIP-INS

76ers: Shot1 of 13 from the 3-point line in the first half. … Didn’t get theirfirst offensive rebound until the 9:41 mark of the secondquarter

Celtics:Tatum’s seven points marked the first time he was held to singledigits in a playoff game since Game 2 of Boston’s 2021 first-roundseries against Brooklyn, when he had nine. … Boston led 57-49 athalftime. … Had just three turnovers in the opening 24 minutes.