The Celtics might be seeing the best of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown

PHILADELPHIA – They say experience is the best teacher. Few players left in these playoffs have learned more than Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

Among active postseason players, only LeBron James (295 games), James Harden (176), and Kevin Durant (171) have logged more playoff appearances than Brown (138). Tatum (124) isn’t far behind, with only Kyle Lowry (136) in between.

Since Tatum entered the league, nobody has played more postseason games than Tatum and Brown. Together, they’ve appeared in 118, winning 72 (61%).

That experience showed when it mattered most in Boston’s 108-100 Game 3 win over Philadelphia.

It wasn’t pretty. The Celtics committed 17 turnovers, leading to 21 points for Philadelphia. They allowed 13 offensive rebounds, which turned into 17 second-chance points. And some of the miscommunications that showed up in Game 2 carried over.

But in a hostile, back-and-forth battle, Boston made the plays that mattered late, reclaiming homecourt advantage behind its franchise pillars: Tatum and Brown.

Tatum (11 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds) and Brown (8 points, 1 assist, 1 steal) scored or assisted on 27 of Boston’s 29 fourth-quarter points, shooting 7-for-9 (77.7%) in the frame.

The only points they didn’t account for were two Derrick White free throws with six seconds remaining, with Boston already up six. The 76ers scored 26 points in the quarter.

“Obviously, two great players. Two players who have been in this situation so many times. I think you can just tell, even as the game was coming down to the wire, they were just still very poised,” Nikola Vucevic said. “They didn’t let the moment or physicality affect them. They knew what they wanted to do. They knew what spots they wanted to get to. Even when we had turnovers, they would go on a small run or something, just stayed poised, and we just followed. Obviously, JT made that huge shot to kind of close the game down. That’s what you expect from these two great players.”

Both had their takeover moment.

For Brown, it came with 6:47 remaining and Boston clinging to a one-point lead (86–85). He picked off a lazy pass from Tyrese Maxey that led to an assist to White on a two-on-one fast break. That play sparked a nearly 3:30 stretch where Brown accounted for 10 straight Celtics points, including scoring the next eight himself.

“That’s what it comes down to. I mean, all your preparation and stuff comes down to those moments,” Brown said. “Both teams are tired. Your team is, offensively, in a little bit of a rut. You’ve got to figure out how to get a basket. Got to figure out how to create some momentum for your team. And I feel like I did just enough to shift things in our favor.”

Brown’s surge gave Boston a four-point lead with 3:14 remaining. And after an Andre Drummond dunk cut it to two with 2:55 left, it was Tatum’s turn.

The five-time All-NBA selection scored seven points and added three assists, accounting for 10 consecutive Celtics points. Then came the loudest moment of the night—his dagger pull-up three that stretched the lead to six with 27 seconds remaining.

Tatum erupted into a scream, pounding his chest and flexing as he turned toward the bench after a Philadelphia timeout, looking every bit like his pre-injury self.

“He’s been incrementally getting better and stronger and getting more physical,” Brown said. “You can see downhill, he’s getting downhill at a higher level than he did when he started. But we do it as a team. We win as a team and lose as a team. So, in those moments, I got nothing but trust for Jayson Tatum. When it comes down to it, we’ve been through it, so we just got to make big-time plays.”

Game 3 was the latest of what has been a masterful postseason from Tatum and Brown.

They each finished with 25 points for the second time this series (Game 1) and the 20th time in their careers. Tatum added seven assists, four rebounds, and a steal, while Brown had seven rebounds, four assists, three blocks, and a steal.

Through three games, Brown is averaging 29.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.3 blocks, while Tatum is averaging 23.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, 7.7 assists, and 1.3 steals. Brown leads the Celtics in total points (87), while Tatum leads in (30), assists (23), and they are tied for steals (4).

In total, they have scored (156) or assisted (72) on 228 of Boston’s 328 (69.5%) total points.

“I think the experience just kind of shows up in their poise on a day-to-day basis,” head coach Joe Mazzulla said. “Not getting too high, not getting too low. Having a clear understanding of what’s at stake and what’s needed on a consistent basis.”

This could very well be the best they’ve looked as a duo, and Tatum has only played 19 games since returning… Which could be bad news for the rest of the NBA.

“I just missed being a part of moments like that, where it’s just like a back-and-forth game,” Tatum said. “We had some moments where things didn’t go our way, and then we had to fight back and get the lead. And it was just a figure-it-out type of game, and make winning plays.”

Experience is one of the NBA’s greatest separators in the playoffs, and few teams have more of it at the top than Boston.

Tatum and Brown’s five Conference Finals appearances in eight years exceed the entire franchise histories of teams like Orlando, Minnesota, Toronto, Atlanta, Brooklyn, Sacramento, the Clippers, New Orleans, and Memphis.

And much like Game 3, it’s something the Celtics will continue to lean on this postseason.

“We’ve been there before,” Brown said. “So, no moment is too big. Big-time players make big-time plays.”