Neemias Queta had a career-high 27 points along with 17 rebounds, and Jaylen Brown finished with 27 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, to lead the Boston Celtics to a 114-98 victory over the visiting Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday night.
Derrick White added 21 points, six rebounds and eight assists for Boston, which received 11 points and 12 rebounds from Nikola Vucevic.
The Celtics made 18 of 21 free-throw attempts and had a 59-37 edge in rebounding.
Philadelphia trailed 103-97 with 4:14 to play, but Queta made a layup and two free throws to extend Boston’s lead to 109-98 with 2:36 left. The 76ers never threatened after that.
Tyrese Maxey led Philadelphia with 33 points. Maxey made 4 of 11 3-point attempts. VJ Edgecombe finished with 23 for the 76ers, who forced 15 Celtics turnovers.
Philadelphia received 10 points and 12 rebounds from Andre Drummond, and 14 points and eight rebounds from Dominick Barlow.
The 76ers played without star center Joel Embiid because of a strained right oblique. Embiid was injured during the 124-117 victory over Miami on Thursday night. The team said Embiid will be re-evaluated after Wednesday’s game against Utah.
Embiid is averaging 26.6 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.9 assists this season but has played in only 33 games.
Philadelphia led 28-26 after one quarter, but the Celtics outscored the 76ers 36-22 in the second quarter to take a 62-50 halftime lead. Boston’s Baylor Scheierman hit a 3-pointer that just beat the buzzer to cap the first-half scoring.
Queta had 16 points and 12 rebounds in the first half.
Boston pushed its lead to 16 points early in the third quarter, but Philadelphia was within 89-83 entering the fourth. The 76ers cut their deficit to five points early in the final quarter.
Sunday’s game was the fourth meeting between the Celtics and 76ers this season. Each team has won twice.
–Field Level Media
