The Boston Celtics utilized a late surge to defeat the Philadelphia 76ers, 95-89, in a Las Vegas Summer League contest at Thomas and Mack Center on Friday evening.
Two teams featuring rosters with solid NBA regular-season experience unsurprisingly put on a competitive show for all four quarters, with one performance especially standing out. Furkan Korkmaz, a 2016 first-round pick of the Sixers (0-1), exploded for 40 points on the strength of eight three-pointers. His impressive sharpshooting almost enabled Philadelphia to pull out a victory in a game they trailed in at the end of each quarter. The Celtics (1-0) held a 69-63 lead heading into the final period, but they’d let that slip away in the latter half of the quarter. However, a 6-0 run to close out the game secured the victory for Boston.
The game featured seven lead changes and eight ties overall. Despite Korkmaz’s outstanding shooting, the rest of the Sixers came up woefully short in that area and drained just 36.8 percent of their attempts as a team. The Celtics were much sharper in posting a 48.6 percent success rate from the field, which they complemented with a 75.0 percent mark from the free-throw line.
Korkmaz complemented his aforementioned game-high scoring haul with six rebounds, two assists and one steal. Isaiah Miles was the only other Sixer with double digits in the scoring column, generating 11 points, eight rebounds, two assists and one block. Norvel Pelle collected eight points, five rebounds, one steal and one block. First-round pick Zhaire Smith followed with seven points, two rebounds, two assists and one steal. Devyn Marble, Devondrick Walker and first-round pick Landry Shamet all had matching six-point tallies.
Two seasoned Celtics (by Summer League standards), Semi Ojeleye and Guerschon Yabusele, co-led Boston with 16-point efforts. Ojeleye added two rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block, while Yabusele also registered seven rebounds, two assists and one steal. Jabari Bird, who appeared in 13 games with the Celtics during this past regular season, mustered 14 points, eight boards and two assists. Pierria Henry, Jarrod Uthoff and Hassan Martin all contributed eight points apiece. Henry particularly filled out the stat sheet, also pitching in eight assists, seven rebounds and one steal. Jarell Eddie and Kadeem Allen pitched in six points apiece off the bench.
Both teams return to action Saturday. The Sixers take on the Los Angeles Lakers in the last contest of the night, while the Celtics do battle with Nuggets in Cox Pavilion on Saturday evening as well.
