(Basketball news) The Boston Celtics reach their second consecutive Eastern Conference finals as they beat the Philadelphia 76ers 112-88 in game 7. For the Celtics, Tatum erupted for 51 points which is subsequently the most in a Game 7 in history while Jaylen Brown scored 25 points. For the 76ers, Newly crowned NBA MVP Joel Embiid scored 15 points on 5-for-18 shooting, and Tobias Harris scored 19 points.

The Sixers lost in the conference semifinals for the third straight year, and this also their fifth time in six seasons that they have not gotten any farther since reaching the NBA Finals in 2001. As for the Celtics it was the Jayson Tatum show as he scored 25 in the first half and 17 more in the third quarter where Boston out scored the 76ers 33-10.

“I was relieved just to get another chance. Our season could have been over after Game 6,” said Tatum, who broke the Game 7 record of 50 points Stephen Curry set two weeks ago. “It definitely was on my mind that I had played as bad as it could get, for 43 minutes.

“You always come into a series with the expectation of how it’s supposed to go,” said Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla, who is in his first year as an NBA head coach after being promoted on the eve of training camp after Ime Udoka was suspended. “That’s not how the playoffs are.”

“I thought we had the right group. I really did,” said Sixers coach Doc Rivers, who was on the Boston bench when the Celtics won it all in 2008. “We played great all year and this loss absolutely diminishes what we did this year in some way. … I think this team is headed right. I thought we took another step this season. And then tonight I think we took a step backward. But that’s OK. That happens, too.”

“JT just got it going and get out of that man’s way,” Brown said. “He got it rolling, and there’s nothing they could do to stop him.”

The Eastern and Western Conference finals are set as the Los Angeles Lakers face Denver Nuggets in a repeat of the 2020 Western Conference finals. While there is a repeat of the 2022 Eastern Conference finals as Miami Heats face the Boston Celtics. The Lakers are aiming for their 20th conference titles whereas the Nuggets look for their first conference title in their history.

This time around they have a motivated Nikola Jokic who is currently playing the best basketball of his life whereas LeBron James is looking to secure his legacy by winning his 5th NBA title. Jimmy Butler has been the best player in these playoffs single handedly guiding his team from the 8th seed to the Eastern Conference finals but he faces a young star in Jayson Tatum who is very motivated to avenge last year’s NBA final loss to the Warriors.

Also read: NBA: Lakers make it to the Western Conference final while Heats reach the Eastern Conference final