– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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BOSTON — Jayson Tatum came back to the lineup on Thursday, and he made sure to put in some serious work while on the court so he could earn some more rest before the game was through.
Tatum scored 35 points as the Celtics easily triumphed over the Philadelphia 76ers 123-105 on Thursday evening inside TD Garden. One night after combining for 84 points and 19 made three-pointers, Payton Pritchard scored 19 points chipped while Derrick White added 12 as the Celtics have won nine of their last 11 contests.
That historic shooting night from the Pritchard-White duo came with Tatum sitting on the bench, held out of the win against the Portland Trail Blazers due to right shoulder soreness. The rest did him a bit of good, as his 24th game of at least 30 points this season came in just three quarters, as he sat out the entire fourth quarter after Boston had built an 18-point lead, 97-79, going into the final stanza.
Tatum was the focal point of a team that was without the services of Jaylen Brown (knee), Jrue Holiday (finger), Kristaps Porzingis (non-COVID illness), Al Horford (toe) and Sam Hauser (ankle).
The Sixers, who are pretty much in full tank mode after the news that Joel Embiid would mess the rest of the regular season with continuing knee pain, also played without Paul George (groin), Tyrese Maxey (back), Kyle Lowry (hip) and Eric Gordon (wrist). Kelly Oubre Jr. led Philadelphia with with 27 points, while Lonnie Walker IV chipped in with 17.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Thursday evening’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Erica Denhoff. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 34 pictures in total.
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