BOSTON — TD Garden was rocking Monday night during the Boston Celtics’ 117-101 win over the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 1 of their second-round NBA playoff series.
The Boston crowd serenaded the opposing team with a variety of original chants and the cookie-cutter unpleasantries teams normally find when they step on the parquet floor.
While some might think the young 76ers were affected by the crowd in their first true road playoff game (sorry, Miami), Philadelphia star Joel Embiid was not impressed with the TD Garden crowd.
“It was OK,” Embiid said when asked about the atmosphere. “I think our fans are louder than that. I was fine. I thought it didn’t bother me, you know. But they were great, they supported the team tonight. It was good. I loved that type of emotion because it kind of elevates my game knowing that there’s a lot of fans out there that are talking trash and saying some crazy stuff too. But it just elevates my game because I love when people talk trash. Keep bringing it and we’ll see how it goes.”
Be careful what you wish for, Joel.
Embiid did have a monster game despite Philadelphia’s loss, tallying 31 points and 13 rebounds. So perhaps the crowd really didn’t get to him.
