1. Abysmal 4th Quarter
Going into the fourth quarter of Game 5, the Celtics allowed the 76ers to get back into the game, cutting a 13 point halftime lead to 1 point at 86-85. Boston would then go on to have one of the worst fourth quarters I have ever seen, being out scored 28-11 and Philadelphia was able to take another game in TD Garden, wining 113-97. The negative stats that came out of this abysmal fourth quarter are just something you don’t see every day.
Boston shot 3-22 (14%) fr0m the field, 2-8 (25%) from three,
and 3-7 (43%) from the free throw line in the final quarter in this game. After Neemias Queta made an and-1 alley-oop layup at the 7:03 mark, the Celtics would proceed to score ZERO baskets for the rest of the game. Boston missed their last final 14 shots in a row during this time, the most in a playoff game since 2005. The Celtics made three more free throws to finish off their scoring night while the 76ers shot 9-17 (53%) in the fourth quarter. Just an overall, no good, very bad fourth quarter for the Boston Celtics.
2. Forced Embiid to Beat Them
Joel Embiid returned to play in Game 4 in Philadelphia and it looked like he completely threw off the 76ers offense. He finished with 26 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists on 9-21 shooting and 1-6 from three, essentially shooting Philadelphia out of the game as Boston steamrolled them 128-96. In Game 5, it looked like the Celtics were trying their best to force Embiid to beat them and I would say he did just that. Embiid finished with 33 points, 8 assists, and 4 rebounds on 12-23 shooting from the field, 0-5 from three, and 9-10 from the free throw line. Boston’s defensive game plan looked to be just leaving him one-on-one and hoping he misses. Whether it was Neemias Queta, Nikola Vucevic, or Luke Gara, nobody could stop Embiid once he made it into the midrange.
This game gave me flashbacks of another big Embiid game that the 76ers won against the Celtics back on December 20th, 2021 when he dropped 41 points on 14-27 shooting. Enes Freedom at the time was the primary defender on him and spent 40 minutes just getting taken to town in the midrange. I never thought I’d see the Celtics run out that same defense scheme against Embiid again, especially in a playoff game, but this game was another example of the one-on-one defense not being a great strategy.
3. The Other Guys Helped 76ers
Another reason why the Celtics were so dominant in Game 4 of this series was due to the fact Boston was able to keep the team around Joel Embiid in check. The highest scorer outside of Embiid was Tyrese Maxey who had 22 points, Paul George who had 16 points, and Quentin Grimes who had 12 points. In Game 5, the other guys for the 76ers torched the Celtics with Maxey scoring 25 points, Grimes scoring 18 points, George scoring 16 points, and VJ Edgecombe scoring 10 points.
Grimes was maybe the biggest back breaker out of all of these players for the 76ers in this game for the Celtics, knocking down 5 threes and giving Philadelphia a reliable person to kick the ball out to. Edgecombe was this player in Game 2 when Boston lost at home when he scored 30 points with 6 three pointers. Boston did not to a great job when it came to closing out to shooters with Philadelphia shooting 15-42 (36%) from three. If the Celtics are going to allow Embiid to get what he wants that’s fine, but they have to make sure the rest of the 76ers roster is kept under wraps.
4. White’s Poor Shooting
It feels weird to give any type of critique to Derrick White’s game after he has shown for years to be a complete player and an amazing third option on a championship team. However, his three point shooting in this series is really starting to hurt a lot. When White can’t knock down his open threes it can completely send the Celtics offense to a stand still and make it look uncomfortable when there isn’t another third guy like Payton Pritchard carrying the load offensively.
Derrick White is averaging only 8.2 points while shooting 14-47 (30%) from the field and 7-33 (21%) from three point range in this series so far, including Game 5 where he had another bad shooting night, going 2-8 from the field and 0-4 from three. White in this series has missed so many wide open looks from three and when they aren’t wide open, he has taken some head scratching contested ones. His decision making has not looked great so far and despite having his second worst three point shooting season of his career, I still have a hard time not having faith in him to turn it around.
5. Brown/Tatum Tough Finish
Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum both had pretty okay games when looking at the stat sheet. Brown finished with 22 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists on 9-23 shooting while Tatum finished with 24 points, 16 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals on 8-19 shooting from the field and 4-12 shooting from three. However, the fourth quarter was brutal for everyone on the team but the Jays were a big part of it. They combined to score only 2 points on 0-8 shooting from the field and 0-2 shooting from three with 2 turn0vers.
No other play describes the struggles them and the entire team went through than the shot Brown missed at the 5:32 mark of the fourth quarter. Quentin Grimes to his credit played some really great defense on Brown, poking the ball away and making him go into the back court. Grimes continued to swarm Brown in the backcourt but no one on the Celtics came to help him. Brown was then forced to throw up a shot at the end of the shot clock and missed.
The 76ers put that kind of pressure on the Jays all night long and it led to some tough shooting nights. I don’t think these were the best games Brown and Tatum could have put out there but they were still doing a great job of carrying the load and finding teammates but with Boston shooting 11-39 (28%) from three, it just won’t show up on the boxscore. They have done so much heavy lifting for this Celtics team in this series that I don’t have any real problems with their play overall. I am just hoping for a bounce back Game 6 in Philadelphia to hopefully close the series.
6. Positive Pritchard Performance
Payton Pritchard built off his incredible 32 point Game 4 performance in Game 5, being one of only two Celtics players to finish with a positive +/-. Pritchard had 12 points and 6 assists on 5-10 shooting from the field and was a +8 overall. He only shot 1-5 from three in this game but he made a lot of great plays when it came to attacking the basket and in the midrange.
Via databallr, the Celtics are a +21.4 net rating when Payton Pritchard is on the court along with a 132.3 offensive rating and a 110.9 defensive rating. In only 26 minutes he was able to help the Celtics offense stay afloat but wasn’t a big part of the fourth quarter collapse, only playing 4 minutes in the middle of the drought. There a chance potentially playing Pritchard more in these kind of situations could help the offense when things are going slow. Either way, it’s nice to see Pritchard continue to be a positive, steady force for Boston in the last few games.
7. Queta Finally Got to Play
Neemias Queta despite playing really well when he is on the floor, has not been able to stay on it for most of this series due to foul trouble. He is averaging 4.0 fouls per game in only 18.3 minutes per game through the first four games of this series. Game 5 saw him once again get into foul trouble with 5, but he was able to stay on the court for a lot more minutes, playing in 26 and finishing with 8 points and 14 rebounds on 4-8 shooting. He did a great job finishing at the basket in this game and just being one of the only inside presences the Celtics had.
Queta showed why he can be such a X-factor for the Celtics in the first quarter when he played 9 minutes, scoring 4 points and grabbing 8 rebounds with any fouls. However, his foul trouble came back to bite him in the second quarter when he picked up 3 fouls in only four minutes. He played only 2 minutes in the third quarter where he picked up another foul but was able to get extended time in the fourth, finishing with 10 minutes played, 2 points, and 4 rebounds. If Queta can just find a way to not get into foul trouble, he will really be able thrive for Boston in these playoffs.
8. Vucevic Offensive Contribution
Although the numbers won’t say it, I think Nikola Vucevic has been a really positive contributor to this Celtics team with his scoring punch off the bench. He was shooting 38% from the field and 29% from three before Game 5 but in this game he was pretty solid, finishing with 8 points on 3-6 shooting and 2-5 from three. We even saw a poster dunk from him on Kelly Oubre Jr in the first quarter that got everyone out of their seat.
The defense was not great, especially on Joel Embiid but everyone knew that when the Celtics traded for him. I think he gets a lot of unnecessary slander from some parts of the fan base but when he is on the court he provides the five-out spacing that can make Boston so effective. If he can provide more positive offensive games like he did in this one, he will continue to be a big resource the Celtics use off of the bench in these playoffs.
9. Walsh Intensity On Display
Jordan Walsh has really opened some eyes in this series and it has come with his defense and intensity that he has played with on the court. He has done a solid job when it comes to guarding Tyrese Maxey off the bench and has knocked down the occasional corner three. In Game 5 he finished with only 1 point on 0-2 shooting in 16 minutes but everything else he did felt bigger with 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals.
The first steal Walsh got is where I think his intensity showed the best. Off a missed three, Walsh and Embiid fought for the rebound. After Embiid fell and lost the ball, Walsh picked up and battled with Paul George until he eventually got fouled. Walsh proceeded to hype up the crowd who erupted, appreciating the hustle he put on display. This is a glimpse of the intensity that I love to see Walsh play with and I believe he is built for a playoff setting.
10. Rally Towel Theory
Now this final takeaway is a theory that I have concocted that has nothing to do with the basketball playing on the court. However, it has been a big indicator of who has won each game in this series so far. I call it, the Rally Towel Theory.
Before Game 1 in TD Garden, the Celtics put out t-shirts for every fan in the arena and Boston won that game in a 32-point blowout. However, ever since Game 1, in both TD Garden and Xfinity Mobile Arena, they have given the fans rally towels. Now theres a chance if they gave t-shirts to every game it could be too expensive and in the Celtics case people won’t wear them anyway, but the home team that has given out a rally towel now has a record of 0-4. Boston lost Game 2 at home, Philadelphia lost Games 3 and 4 at home, and Boston lost again at home in Game 5 all due to a small piece of cloth.
Does this theory have any direct correlation to any of these games whatsoever? Probably not. Is this cope for me as I try to understand how the Celtics lost 2 games at home? Potentially. However, there is an old saying from a song by Yo Gotti back in 2009 that goes, “women lie, men lie, numbers don’t lie,” and in this case the numbers are saying when you give out a rally towel, you are setting yourself up to lose. We will see in Game 6 if the 76ers give out rally towels or t-shirts but it could be the difference between the series being over or forcing a Game 7.
