At the Celtics’ practice facility, a sign hangs on the wall.
It reads:
Commit to the 5th round
Toughest Team
Smartest Team
Playing our best basketball
Credit: Justin Turpin WEEI.com
It’s an identity that fueled a 56-win season and a commanding 3-1 series lead. Now, it’s slipped away, with the Celtics pushed to the brink after a 106-93 loss to the 76ers in Game 6.
“They just played harder,” Jaylen Brown said. “We didn’t play hard enough.”
“They outplayed us tonight,” Payton Pritchard added.
Those aren’t sentiments often attached to this Celtics team, and certainly not in consecutive games. Yet, that’s the reality after back-to-back losses for the first time since the opening week of November, the latter ending with Boston’s starters on the bench and 10:24 still left in the fourth quarter, trailing by 23.
“We haven’t played that well, and they’ve played well. Obviously, this series changed once Embiid came back, so you have to take a look at that,” Joe Mazzulla said. “They’ve found an identity, and we have to be able to adjust to that identity that they’ve found.”
That’s been the problem.
As Philadelphia has settled into who it is, Boston has drifted from what made it successful — the very principles posted on that wall — particularly over the last six quarters.
Early in the third quarter of Game 5, the Celtics looked poised to cruise into the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Up 13 with 10:54 remaining, they had firm control of the game, and the series. Since that moment, though, everything has flipped. They’ve been outscored 169-127, and in the process, have lost themselves.
A team that prides itself on toughness has been outworked, struggling to match Philadelphia’s physicality.
A team that prides itself on being the smarter group has lost its edge. The offense has stalled into isolation and mismatch hunting, abandoning the process and execution that defined it all season.
The results reflect it.
Two of their lowest-scoring quarters of the year have come in this stretch — an 11-point fourth quarter in Game 5 and a 14-point third in Game 6. They’ve been held under 100 points in consecutive games for just the fifth time under Mazzulla. Meanwhile, Philadelphia has dictated the tempo, exploding for 35 points in the third quarter of Game 5 and 38 in the second quarter of Game 6.
A group that takes pride in “playing Celtics basketball” has lost the margins that sustain it: limiting turnovers, generating more shot attempts, creating second-chance opportunities, converting at the free-throw line, and maintaining the connection between offense and defense.
“We’ve just got to be better,” Brown said. “All things considered, we’re in a great spot. Going home for a Game 7, expecting a great atmosphere, and expecting a great fight from our group. The last two games weren’t the best, but you move on. I’m looking forward to it, and I’m excited for Game 7.”
Now it comes down to one game.
The Celtics return home for a do-or-die Game 7 on Saturday, trying to avoid becoming just the 14th team in NBA history to blow a 3-1 series lead, and the first in franchise history to do so (32-0). To stay off that list, they’ll have to get back to what got them here.
The identity that carried them all season, built on toughness, execution, and playing together.
“Our intentions are good. We want to go out there and play the right way and win,” Jayson Tatum said. “ We’ve just got to be a little bit more together, a little bit tougher. Play with more pace, play faster. How we – they – have played the majority of the season and since I’ve been back. Just kind of getting back to who we are.”
If there’s any comfort for Boston, it’s that this stage is far from new. Tatum and Brown have been here before, playing in seven Game 7s together and winning five, including one against the 76ers in 2023. Saturday will be the ninth all-time Game 7 between the Celtics and 76ers, with Boston winning six of the previous eight.
“Each series takes on a life of its own. There are ups and downs,” Tatum, who scored 51 points against the 76ers in Game 7 in 2023, an NBA record for points in a Game 7, said. “It’s win or go home. That’s understood. A lot of us have been in this situation before.”
