On May 15, 2023, Beijing time, in the seventh game of the Eastern Conference semifinals of the NBA playoffs, the Celtics and the 76ers engaged in a fierce competition. The Celtics' Tatum played well, scoring 51 points to help the team beat the 76ers 112-88 and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.
After the game started, the Celtics played a small wave of 8-2, but the 76ers quickly leveled the score with eight straight points. Toward the end of the first quarter, the Celtics rallied again, but the 76ers ended the first quarter with a 29-23 lead. In the second quarter, the Celtics took advantage of their offensive performance to take a 16-4 lead and then alternately led the two sides. At the end of the first half, the Celtics went into the second half with a 55-52 lead.
After the start of the second half, the 76ers' Harris hit a 3-pointer to tie the score. But then, the Celtics went all out and excelled on both inside and outside three-pointers, at one point taking a 28-3 advantage. Going into the fourth quarter, the Celtics led 88-62. In the final quarter, the Celtics still maintained high morale and excellent performances, did not give the 76ers any chance, and finally the Celtics won 112-88 and successfully advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals.
In this game, Tatum became the best player of the Celtics, contributing 51 points, 13 rebounds and 5 assists, which became the key to the team's victory; Jaylen Brown scored 25 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks, and Malcolm Brogdon, Marcus Smart, Al Horford and other players also had excellent performances.
For the 76ers, Tobias Harris contributed 19 points and five rebounds, while Tyres Maxi and Joel Embiid also contributed 17 and 15 points, respectively. But in the face of the strong performance of the Celtics, they could not stop the opponent's offensive and eventually lost.
It is worth mentioning that in this game, Harden played 40 minutes in the game, shooting 3 of 11, scoring 9 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists, shooting 1 of 5 from three-point range, shooting 31% from the field, and his poor performance in the life and death battle was also criticized by fans, they said that Harden's little desire to win really killed Embiid.