What was interesting was that the person who ultimately decided the outcome of this fierce battle wasn't Joel Embiid, a strong contender for this season's MVP award, nor one of the Celtics' endlessly promising young wings, but the younger rising star, Tyrese Maxey!
Tonight, Maxey played exactly the way fans joked he would.
"Maxey of Philly, running and shooting."
He combined his speed with his precise outside shooting.
With a series of fast breaks and pull-up threes, he piled up a staggering 31 points against a formidable perimeter defense duo like Brown and Smart, becoming the 76ers' leading scorer tonight.
More importantly, with twelve seconds left in the game, he used a pick-and-roll to drive hard to the basket and score a 2+1 over Robert Williams. That play helped his team claim the victory.
When the game ended, the score was 126–123.
The Eastern Conference's fourth-seeded Philadelphia 76ers had narrowly defeated the fifth-seeded Celtics on their home court, taking Game 1 of the series.
Game 1 had already been so closely contested that the winner wasn't decided until the final moments.
It was easy to imagine that this series would likely last at least six games...
And following that Eastern Conference showdown, the battle continued in the West, between the Golden State Warriors and the Dallas Mavericks.
This was another matchup with plenty of star power.
But unlike the previous two games, both of which had been won by higher-seeded teams, this one had a different outcome.
No one had expected an upset victory in the third game of the first day of the Playoffs.
Led by Luka Doncic and Rudy Gobert, the Mavericks' outstanding perimeter-and-interior duo had managed to pull off a big win at Chase Center!
When the game ended, the score was 127–118.
Doncic had gone straight