Celtics win over 76ers highlights versatility: “this game was probably one of our best games of the year”

With just below 9 minutes to play, the Celtics’ lead – which was 14 factors simply minutes earlier – was down to 2. Cam Payne and Tobias Harris hit consecutive triples, and Joe Mazzulla referred to as for a timeout.

For a second, it appeared prefer it might be a type of nights. The Celtics struggled from downtown, hitting a season-low 5 three-pointers on 22 makes an attempt. Tyrese Maxey was going off, scoring 30 factors by three quarters. And, the winners of 8 video games in a row, Boston was most likely due for a loss anyhow.

However then, in a five-minute span from 7:55 to 2:36 left within the fourth, the Celtics launched into a dominant 16-0 run, and the exact same recreation that beforehand felt destined for a clutch-time end grew to become a blowout.

Jayson Tatum, who began the sport gradual, completed the fourth quarter with 15 factors, going 4-8 from the sphere and 7-7 from the road. He ended the sport with one other near-triple double: 29 factors, 11 rebounds, and eight assists.

Jaylen Brown, who attacked the rim relentlessly all evening, completed with 31 factors on 11-14 taking pictures. Kristaps Porzingis scored 23 factors and went an ideal 12-12 from the road. And the defensive-minded backcourt of Derrick White and Jrue Vacation — regardless of solely combining for 14 shot makes an attempt — added 13 rebounds, 10 assists, 3 steals, and 5 blocks.

The story of the evening was that the 76ers took away the three-ball. On common, Boston leads the league in 16.1 made threes on 42.3 makes an attempt per recreation. In flip, the Celtics attacked the basket and completed 34-37 from the road, demonstrating that opposite to widespread perception, the highest offense within the NBA is, in actual fact, not solely reliant on three-pointers.

“This recreation was most likely one in every of our greatest video games of the 12 months, from the standpoint of we had been in a position to win another way,” Joe Mazzulla mentioned in his postgame presser. “This recreation confirmed a template of how groups are going to protect us, and it provides us one other factor to observe. I assumed our guys did an important job.”

Mazzulla, who’s made it a degree to emphasise the intrinsic connection between offense and protection this season, mentioned that the Celtics tightened their offense within the second half after struggling a bit within the first. Because of this, they had been in a position to maintain Philadelphia to simply 99 factors.

“In an effort to be an important defensive crew, you must be actually good on offense,” Mazzulla mentioned. “I simply thought we had been unorganized somewhat bit on the offensive finish, received some empty possessions, received some turnovers. Within the second half, we did an important job of attending to our spots, physicality in our drives, and we managed the shot margin, with our one shot protection and our capacity to get to the free-throw line.”

Jaylen Brown – who has had three consecutive first halves with not less than 18 factors – took simply two three-pointers in opposition to Philadelphia, and after the sport, he famous that the low determine was not an accident.

“Part of my job, my duty is to get to the paint, to break down the protection, to verify we’re getting open seems,” Brown mentioned. “Typically I go up threes with a purpose to attempt to get a paint contact as a result of we want somewhat bit extra of these to assist our three-point taking pictures much more.”

Joe Mazzulla praised Brown’s efficiency: “He’s simply at all times in assault mode. I like what Jaylen’s doing. I like the work he’s placing in, I like the poise that he’s taking part in with on the offensive finish. I like the best way he’s getting completely different baskets, whether or not it’s dealing with, whether or not it’s in transition, the poise he’s taking part in with within the put up. He’s actually studying the sport, and profiting from it.”

The win means the Celtics’ lead within the Japanese Convention is as much as 7.5 video games. It’ll take one thing drastic for Boston to finish up with a seed decrease than #1, however Jayson Tatum mentioned the crew isn’t paying too shut consideration to the standings.

“We don’t discuss it a lot, we actually simply attempt to get higher each single day. Sounds cliche, sounds boring,” Tatum mentioned. “Perhaps final 12 months, we rushed or regarded previous opponents and we had been simply able to get to the playoffs, however this 12 months we’ve actually taken it at some point at a time.”

As a substitute, they’re every recreation as a chance to get higher. Mazzulla mentioned final evening gave them new materials to study from – on this occasion, they labored to execute offensively in opposition to a protection intent on taking away the three: “It simply provides us one thing to check, provides us one thing to work on, and grateful we had been in a position to play that recreation.”