1. TATUMadelphia
After years of hitting clutch shots and beating the Toronto Raptors in playoff series, LeBron James eventually got the nickname “LeBronto.” At what point do we come up with a nickname for Jayson Tatum against the 76ers? In my mind I will go with “Tatumadelphia” but I’m sure there’s a better one that roles off the tongue. Either way we saw Tatum once again come up clutch against the 76ers, finishing with 25 points, 7 assists, and 4 rebounds on 9-17 shooting from the field and 5-9 shooting from three.
Tatum took over in the fourth quarter, playing all 12 minutes and finished with 11 points on 4-5 shooting. Tatum looked incredibly aggressive in the fourth quarter, he just put his head down and attacked the 76ers defense to the basket any chance he got. That opened up his three point shot, where he hit 2 threes in the final two minutes with no shot being bigger than the dagger three he hit with 26 seconds left to give Boston a 6-point lead.
This big Game 3 from Tatum was nothing new for him as he has shown up big in the third game of series over his career with averages of 24.3 Points, 7.1 Rebounds, 4.7 Assists, 43% FG%, and 32% 3P% in 23 games. He also joined Larry Bird, John Havlicek, and Kevin McHale as the only other player in Celtics franchise history to reach over 3,000 Playoff points scored in their career.
2. Jaylen Brown Energy Shifter
Jaylen Brown is known for his iconic “The energy is about to shift” tweet he made back in 2022, but this game really showed that Energy Shifting in full force in the fourth quarter. Brown finished the night with 25 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 blocks on 9-16 shooting. He also passed Robert Parish for 7th on the Celtics all-time playoff points scored list.
Brown took a short break to begin the fourth quarter after playing the entire third quarter but once he checked in at the 8:41 mark, his impact was felt immediately. With both teams fighting to take the lead, Brown stole the ball way from Tyrese Maxey and took it down the other way to find a streaking Derrick White for a layup.
This one play ignited Jaylen Brown who had a 8 points on 3-4 shooting in the fourth quarter. Brown’s defense and ability to keep the Celtics above water in a close game was what made the difference. We don’t see Tatum hit that dagger three with 26 seconds left if Brown doesn’t keep Boston in the game.
3. Payton Pritchard Stepped Up
Through the first two games of this series, the Jays averaged 53.0 Points, 18.0 Rebounds, 11.5 Assists, and 3.0 Steals. This was great for Boston, but the main reason why they lost in Game 2 was due to the rest of the team not being able to help Brown and Tatum on the offensive end.
Payton Pritchard was one of those guys who were struggling through the first two games, averaging 8.0 Points on 2-13 (15%) from three point range. Pritchard was able to bounce back and answer the call in Game 3, finishing with 15 points on 5 three pointers. Three of those shots from beyond the arc came in the second half when the Celtics needed them most. The biggest came at the 1:17 mark of the fourth quarter when Tatum passed him a grenade at the end of the shot clock and Pritchard buried a side-step three from the corner to keep the Celtics at a two-possession lead.
4. Never Doubt Derrick White
Similar to Payton Pritchard, Derrick White was another player who struggled offensively in the first two games for Boston, averaging 9 points on 4-17 (23.5%) shooting from three. Unlike Pritchard, White’s offensive struggles continued in Game 3 where he finished with 11 points on 3-12 shooting from the field and 1-8 from three. There were points in this game where I seriously thought the Celtics should take him out entirely because it looked like White was just struggling to be productive on both sides of the ball.
I can’t believe I even thought benching Derrick White was a good idea because he once again, found a way to make winning plays in the fourth quarter. White grabbed a monumental offensive rebound off a missed three by Vucevic that directly led to Jayson Tatum hitting the dagger three with 26 seconds left in the fourth quarter. It is incredible that no matter what White is doing when it comes to shooting the ball, he will always find a way. That is the definition of a winning basketball player and although the shot is still a concerned that should be monitored, I have learned to never doubt Derrick White.
5. The Big Man Dilemma
Neemias Queta has had a hard time staying on the court in this series, finding himself in foul trouble way too often. Nikola Vucevic, who had a pretty solid first half, started the third quarter over Queta and once picked up his fourth foul with 1:05 left in the third quarter, Queta didn’t end up playing for the rest of the game. Vucevic meanwhile, played really well in 31 total minutes, finishing with 11 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 blocks on 4-10 shooting from the field and 3-9 shooting from three.
This brings back a dilemma, because although Vucevic had 3 blocks, he still isn’t the best defender in the world. This was mostly seen at the end of the game where he doubled Paul George on back-to-back plays when he didn’t need to and it ended in wide open Andre Drummond dunks late in the fourth quarter. At the same time, Queta is clear and away a better defender and can be a more impactful offensive player inside for the Celtics but he can’t stop committing dumb fouls.
It makes me wonder how the Celtics are going to continue to handle the big man rotation. Vucevic is the more experienced player of the two, having more experience playing big time minutes in the playoffs but Queta is very clearly the better player overall. Maybe we see more Luka Garza minutes? He played 4 minutes in Game 3 and finished with 3 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 assist on 1-3 shooting. This is a situation that we knew was most likely going to play out but I am still interested to see how Mazzulla continues to handle the center rotation.
6. Need More Baylor Scheierman
Baylor Scheierman has not played a ton of minutes for the Celtics so far in the playoffs but when he ahs, most of them have come in the second quarter. This is often a case where either Brown or Tatum can get a breather and Boston can use Scheierman as a Hauser replacement on the court. Even in only 8 minutes in Game 3, we saw Baylor stuff the stat sheet, with 6 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal on 2-3 shooting from three.
Scheierman was able to make winning plays from his first shot attempt, hitting a no-dip three from the corner and grabbing a big offensive rebound where he threw a dart to Derrick White for a three-pointer. Baylor showed his hustle mid way through his run after Jaylen Brown blocked Paul George, he was able to steal the ball away from Philadelphia on the rebound.
We saw Scheierman get shown a little bit more trust later in the game when he started the fourth quarter for the Celtics to give Brown a breather. He showed off why it was a good decision by Joe Mazzulla to put him out there, immediately playing lockdown defense on Paul George and forcing a steal. I wonder if we see more of Baylor Scheierman in the rotation moving forward because he is really starting to open some eyes with his impact on both ends of the ball.
7. Too Many Turnovers
The Celtics were the best team in the regular season when it came to taking care of the ball, only averaging 12.4 turnovers per game. However we have seen Boston get consistently more sloppy with the ball in the playoffs. They had 8 turnovers in Game 1, 11 turnovers in Game 2, and in Game 3 we saw the Celtics turn the ball over an astonishing 17 times.
The ball handling from Boston in this game was not great and they committed so many careless turnovers that Philadelphia was able to translate on more often than not. The 76ers finished with 21 points off of turnovers and was a big reason why they were able to keep pace with the Celtics throughout the game. Boston needs to clean up the turnovers moving forward because there isn’t a guarantee they win a game the next time they turn the ball over 17 times.
8. Three-Ball Returns
In their Game 2 loss, the Celtics shot 13-50 (26%) from three and shot 25% from three in the second half. It looked like they were just chucking up threes on almost every possession and with the 76ers shooting 19-39 (49%) from beyond the arc, it was a recipe for disaster. Game 3 saw the Celtics bounce back from distance, shooting 20-47 (43%) from three and you could tell they were generating good shots. In the fourth quarter alone they shot 4-8, compared to Philadelphia who shot 3-10.
9. Paint Presence
Boston finished with 11 blocks in this game as a team and it was a testate to their paint defense holding up. Brown, Vucevic and White all had 3 while Queta had 2 of his own. The first two games saw the Philadelphia mostly focus on shooting from beyond the arc to generate their baskets. However, they went away from their three point heavy approach in Game 3 and decided to take 31 shots in the paint where they shot 68%. The Celtics don’t have the most vaunting paint presence with Queta in foul trouble and Vucevic not being the best defender, but Boston was able to hold up.
The rebounding department saw more success for the Celtics, out-rebounding the 76ers 45-37. Out of those 45, 15 of which came on the offensive end for Boston. Although it felt like Philly was able to grab a ton of offensive boards down the stretch, Boston was able to once again hang on. It is encouraging to see Boston be able to hold up against a team primarily attacking the paint.
10. Responding to Adversity
Following the Game 2 loss, the only thing I personally wanted to see from the Celtics was just being able to respond in Game 3 with a victory and they lived up to expectations. It’s a testament to the experience guys like Brown, Tatum, and White have in these moments, finding a way to win. Tatum said in his postgame interview “I’ve been here before” when keeping his composure down the stretch of this game and it is a sentiment I see with this entire team.
Although a lot of the pieces are new, the Celtics as a whole are not new to playing playoff basketball. They have guys who know what it takes to face adversity after a loss in the playoffs and what they have to do to bounce back. Shoutout to the main guys on this team for responding and shoutout to Joe Mazzulla and the coaching staff for having the rest of the team ready to play.
