The Celtics saw this coming.
After a 32-point blowout in Game 1, they understood they weren’t all going to be that easy. Joe Mazzulla and Jayson Tatum both said as much in the immediate aftermath, and Mazzulla reiterated it again before Game 2.
“Today’s going to be a much more difficult challenge,” he said. “I expect a better version of the Sixers.”
That’s exactly what they got.
The 76ers responded with a 111–97 win, evening the series at 1–1 and flipping home-court advantage.
“Welcome to the playoffs. We’ve just got to be ready to go,” Jaylen Brown said. “I’ve played in series that have gone similar. You can’t take anything for granted. We’ve gotta be ready to go next game.”
Here are five takeaways from the loss as the 76ers steal home court and the Celtics drop to 3-5 in their last eight home Game 2’s.
The shotmaking swung in Philadelphia’s favor
In Game 1, the 76ers made just four three-pointers on 23 attempts (17.4%). Meanwhile, the Celtics knocked down 16-of-44 (36.4%), a 36-point advantage from beyond the arc that largely fueled the blowout win.
In Game 2, Philadelphia made its shots.
The Celtics, well… not so much.
The 76ers shot 19-of-39 (48.7%) from three, marking just the fourth time this season they’ve made 19 or more. VJ Edgecombe (6-of-10) and Tyrese Maxey (5-of-12) combined for 11, nearly matching the Celtics’ total on their own.
Boston finished 13-of-50 (26.0%) from deep and never found a rhythm, going just 8-of-36 (22.2%) after the first quarter. The Celtics are now 2-7 this season when making 10 or fewer three-pointers, and 7-12 when shooting below 30% from beyond the arc.
Seven different 76ers attempted at least one three-pointer, and all but one shot 40% or better (Kelly Oubre Jr., 2-of-6).
Of the 10 Celtics who attempted a three, only Jaylen Brown (5-of-12) and Baylor Scheierman (1-for-1) shot better than 25%.
Derrick White went 2-for-10, Jayson Tatum and Sam Hauser were both 2-for-8, Nikola Vucevic finished 1-for-4, and Payton Pritchard went 0-for-4.
In total, Philadelphia shot 43-of-90 (47.8%), and the Celtics shot 35-of-89 (39.3%).
There is your ball game.
The defense was out of sync
The biggest talking point will be the drop coverage the Celtics ran in the pick-and-roll that allowed Maxey and Edgecombe to get hot from beyond the arc.
For those who don’t remember from Stephen Curry in the NBA Finals in 2022, drop coverage is when the screener’s defender drops back into the paint to protect the basket, giving the ball-handler space up top while the on-ball defender fights over the screen to recover.
Mazzulla did not provide much clarity on the decision to remain in drop after the game.
“That’s the low-hanging fruit to look at,” he said. “It starts with the stuff that we can control.”
The issues went beyond drop coverage, though. The intensity and attention to detail were uncharacteristically lacking throughout.
They gave up two offensive rebounds off a missed free throw, one of which led to a five-point possession. They had several miscommunications that turned into clean catch-and-shoot looks. They were out of position on rebounds. They were beaten to loose balls. They were slow to contest.
That lackadaisical play was also reflected in their 13 turnovers, many of which were live-ball turnovers, and resulted in 15 points for the 76ers.
“They outcompeted us tonight. I think our intensity level could have been better. Defensively, we could have been better,” Jaylen Brown said. “We’ve just got to be better. It’s the playoffs. They’ve got ball players over there, and they came to play.”
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown didn’t get much help
Jaylen Brown finished with a game-high 36 points, along with seven rebounds and four assists.
Jayson Tatum added 19 points, 14 rebounds, and nine assists — just one assist shy of a triple-double.
Together, the Jays accounted for 56.7% of Boston’s scoring and 42% of its rebounds. They also scored or assisted on 78 of the Celtics’ 97 points (80.4%).
They were also the only two Celtics to reach double figures in scoring, which, unsurprisingly, is not a recipe for success. The secondary scorers need to step up.
“Just keep finding them. Just keep trusting them,” Brown said. “I thought Sam and Payton both got good looks tonight. Both got some open shots. That’s what we want. So, continue to trust that process. But just continuing to play Celtics basketball. It starts on defense, and then getting out and running also leads to the type of energy that we need. We trust Payton. We trust Sam. We trust Baylor. We trust all of those guys to come in and impact the game. We just gotta continue to stay consistent with that, and we’ll be okay.”
The second quarter was a “death sentence”
Joe Mazzulla made a point of circling the second quarter in his postgame press conference.
“You lose a quarter by 11, that’s tough to come back from in a playoff game,” he said.
The same theme came up elsewhere, too. Both Neemias Queta and Jayson Tatum pointed to the second quarter — a stretch in which Boston was outscored 37–26 — as the turning point.
“That second quarter, everything went wrong,” Queta said. “Allowing 37 points in a quarter in the playoffs, that’s a death sentence. We should be a lot better.”
Tatum echoed that sentiment right away in his opening answer.
“In the second quarter, we gave up 37 points,” he said. “Doing that in a playoff game is tough. It’s not a recipe for a win.”
Philadelphia shot 14-of-24 (58.3%) in the frame, including 8-of-11 (72.7%) from three. Boston led by as many as eight early, but the 76ers grabbed the lead at the 4:58 mark of the second and never gave it back.
The Celtics couldn’t close the gap
The Celtics cut the 76ers’ lead to one possession three separate times in the second half, and each time Philadelphia answered with a run to reestablish control.
When Boston pulled within three late in the third quarter (77-74, 3:54 remaining), the 76ers responded with a 7-3 push to close the frame and stretch the lead back to seven.
Early in the fourth, the Celtics trimmed it to two (84-82, 11:06 left), but Philadelphia countered again with a 7-2 run to push the advantage back to seven.
The final surge was the most decisive. Boston got it back to two once more (91-89, 6:25 remaining), before the 76ers closed the game on a 20-8 run.
All night, the Celtics were searching for that momentum-shifting bucket to fully flip the game, but never found it. At times, the offense in those situations felt forced.
