Jayson Tatum writhed in pain on the parquet late in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, having just suffered an errant groin shot from P.J. Tucker. He’d recover after a quick trip to the locker room, but it wouldn’t be the last time the Sixers hit Boston where it really hurts.
The Celtics reverted to bad defense and turnovers in the face of a Sixers team without star Joel Embiid, who remains sidelined for a knee sprain.
Most notably, they once again failed to close out a close fourth quarter.
James Harden filled the MVP-sized void with 45 points, proving himself to be the head of a snake too slippery for the Celtics’ defense. The dagger came with 8.4 seconds left, as he sent his dependable screener Tucker down to the baseline. He then hunted out Al Horford in isolation and drained a 3-pointer in his face.
Joe Mazzulla sounded flummoxed by the Sixers’ offense, unsure how to shift double teams to Harden without leaving supporting players like Tyrese Maxey and De’Anthony Melton open on the perimeter. The two guards combined for 21 points behind the arc while Marcus Smart and Horford looked outmatched by Harden’s signature step-back jumper.
“We gave some catch-and-shoot shots to their role players, and credit to them, they knocked them down,” Mazzulla said immediately after the game.
He was less effusive about Harden, saying, “He played well. Made shots.”
What’s more damning than the Celtics’ defensive efforts getting twisted up like a county fair pretzel was the return to giveaways — the Achilles heel of last year’s team in the Finals. The Celtics finished the night with 16 turnovers.
Sixth Man of the Year Malcolm Brogdon had the final gag with 30 seconds left on the game clock. His pass back to Tatum was a mile wide and gleefully grabbed by Maxey, who ran it back for a go-ahead dunk.
“It was a mistake. A turnover. It happens,” the SMOY said postgame.
It’s unfair to blame the loss on one bad pass, especially considering it was Brogdon’s only cough-up of the game. He’s a SMOY and the starters racked up 15 turnovers by themselves. Smart led the way with six.
Put simply, Boston looked careless. They underestimated the rest of Embiid’s team. Tatum echoed comments made by Horford after the game about the Celtics’ defensive effort:
“They were just in a rhythm throughout the whole game. I don’t think our pressure and intensity was necessarily as high as it should have been over the game.”
He added that guys “can be a little bit too comfortable at times.”
Luckily for the Celtics, it’s Game 1 and there’s time to adjust. Best case scenario: they treat this series opener like a shot below the belt and come back out swinging.