NBA Preseason – Boston Celtics 93-65 thrash Philadelphia 76ers
The Boston Celtics' fans were eager to see their team play soon with the latest addition of Shaquille O’Neal to its squad. They finally saw it playing against the Philadelphia 76ers this Wednesday at the Verizon Wireless Arena, Manchester.
1st Quarter:
The Boston Celtics looked in top-form right from the start of play as they gave Philadelphia 76ers no opportunity to settle. They formed a tight defence that restricted the opposition to just 9 points during the whole quarter.
Paul Pierce, Ranjon Rondon and Shaquille O’Neal all put up some good performances and apart from scoring themselves, they also provided their other team-mates with opportunities. A loud roar from the crowd was heard when O’Neal bagged his first point as
a Celtics' player.
On the other hand, Theddus Young scored the most points for Philadelphia. At quarter's end, the score was 19-9 in favour of Celtics.
2nd Quarter:
The 2nd quarter was also productive in terms of points scored but again only for the Celtics as they continued with their superb defence that led to Philadelphia scoring only 13 points.
Further stomping their authority, Celtics scored frequently that sunk any chances of a Philadelphia comeback. Young was the only player for Philadelphia who was able to get past the Celtics' defence. Otherwise, it was another disappointing quarter for the
76ers.
For Celtics, Kevin Garnett also put his name on the score sheet. Overall, it was a team effort by them that saw all their 5 players scoring. As the quarter ended, the score was 49-22 in favour of Celtics.
3rd Quarter:
With a lead that now seemed impossible to cut down, the Boston Celtics eased a little in the 3rd quarter. This led to a low scoring quarter but as far as the 76ers were concerned, they had scored 18 points.
The Celtics also made a few changes that resulted in their lead being cut as they scored only 21 points in the quarter. The storyline was the same as Young was once again amongst the scorers for Philadelphia. For Celtics, Garnett, Ray Allen and Shaq put
their names on the scoring sheet.
This quarter saw less action as compared to the previous two quarters with the score being 70-40 in the favour of Boston Celtics.
4th Quarter:
With a 30 points difference at the start of the 4th quarter, Boston Celtics looked in a comfortable position. Through their young players, they were able to score 23 points while Philadelphia 76ers scored 25 points as the quarter ended.
Stephane Lasme was the star player for Boston Celtics in the last quarter as they emerged match winners with 95-63.
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