BOSTON — Jayson Tatum caught a pass underneath the basket, shook off a hit and went up for the go-ahead layup with 23 seconds left and the Celtics beat the 76ers 114-112 on Wednesday night to advance to the Eastern Conference finals.

Tatum scored 25 points, Jaylen Brown had 24 and Terry Rozier 17, sinking a pair of free throws after forcing Joel Embiid’s turnover in the final seconds. Al Horford added 15 points and eight rebounds for the Celtics, who will play the Cavaliers for the second straight year for a spot in the NBA Finals.

Game 1 is Sunday in Boston.

Embiid had 27 points and 12 rebounds for the 76ers, who roared back into the playoffs for the first time since 2012, winning won 20 out of 21 games before the Celtics beat them three straight times to open the conference semifinals. Dario Saric had 27 points and 10 rebounds, and Ben Simmons added 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

Embiid had a chance to tie it after Tatum made it 111-109 with 18.8 seconds left. But he missed a heavily contested layup, failed to tip it back in and then grabbed that rebound, too. Rozier knocked the ball out of his hands, off his leg and out of bounds with 10.8 seconds left.

Rozier made a pair of free throws to make it 113-109 — eight straight points for the Celtics. J.J. Reddick’s 3-pointer cut the deficit to one.

Marcus Smart missed his first free-throw attempt and appeared to try to miss the second, too — to force the Sixers to bring the ball up the court with the clock running — but the ball went in. The 76ers’ full-court inbounds pass was intercepted by Smart, and he threw the ball in the air to run out the clock.

Yes, the Celtics and Cavaliers are meeting in the East finals for the second year in a row, but both teams have undergone near-complete overhauls since the Cavaliers won in five games last spring. Only four players on each side remain from that series.

The Celtics scored the last eight points of the first half, including 3-pointers by Baynes and one by Rozier at the buzzer, to open a 61-52 lead. The 76ers closed the third quarter on a 21-5 run to make it a one-point game.

The Celtics played without guard Shane Larkin, who likely will miss additional time with a sprained left shoulder according to coach Brad Stevens.

Larkin left Monday’s Game 4 in the first quarter after running into a screen set by Joel Embiid.

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