BOSTON — Here are my main takeaways and “best” and “worst” awards from the 76ers’ 117-101 loss to the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of an Eastern Conference semifinal series Monday night at TD Garden.
Five observations
- The Sixers still have a tough time defending athletic scorers. It looked like Celtics small forward Jaylen Brown — not Ben Simmons or Donovan Mitchell — was the leading candidate for rookie of the year the way he kept blowing by Sixers. He ended up with 28 points on 8-for-16 shooting.
- No one can say the Sixers-Celtics rivalry is one-sided.