The Boston Celtics returned home to TD Garden Tuesday night to try and close out their first round series against the Philadelphia 76ers. Boston led through three quarters, before the Philadelphia 76ers made a stunning comeback to take the lead at the start of the 4th quarter. Philly would go on to dominate play in the 4th quarter as the scoring dried up for the C’s, they lose another game at home in this series, 113-97.
With no injuries, both teams had a full compliment of players to start the clash.
Philadelphia got out to an early 10-6 lead as both teams struggled to shoot the ball to start the contest. In the first 6 minutes of action, Boston was just 4-11 from the field, missing their first 5 three-point shot attempts. Jayson Tatum’s first score came seven minutes into the game, as the Celtics seemed very tentative in the close-out matchup.
Payton Pritchard was the first player off the bench for the home team, as Sam Hauser took an early seat, scoreless after 6 minutes of action. Boston took the lead with 3 minutes to go in the first quarter as Jaylen Brown muscled into the key to score and was fouled over rookie VJ Edgecombe.
Baylor Scheierman checked into the game late in the first quarter and hit the team’s first triple of the night off a Pritchard assist. Payton Pritchard scored his first points of the night with a mid-range fadeaway jumper. Jordan Walsh joined Vucevic, Pritchard, Brown, and Scheierman on the court to end the quarter as Tatum got a rest. A Nikola Vucevic dunk in a wide-open 76er lane gave the Celtics a 23-21 lead after one quarter. The C’s would take that all day after shooting a dismal 1-10 from downtown in 12 minutes of play. The 76ers weren’t much better, going just 3-13 as both teams were slogging it out in a low-scoring affair.
Tatum returned alongside White, Garza, Walsh, and Pritchard as Joe Mazzulla mixed up the rotations to start the second quarter. Embiid was called for an offensive foul, setting a pick on Jordan Walsh to start the quarter. Pritchard danced into the lane past two defenders and drew a second foul on Embiid. Pritchard drove once more on a broken play for Philly; he got a wide-open layup for his seventh point of the game.
Jayson Tatum stole the ball on the baseline and went coast to coast as Boston took a seven-point lead, 32-25. Jordan Walsh and Luka Garza took a seat as Vucevic and Scheierman returned for Boston. Vucevic immediately sunk a triple from the top of the key, his second field goal of the game, crediting Tatum with a behind-the-back assist to the big man. White got into the lane to score his fourth point of the game on a finger roll layup; Vucevic got the assist with a nifty pass on the play.
Boston took a 10-point lead with seven minutes to go in the half; Jaylen Brown had a block attempt on Embiid and was whistled for a foul at the nail. He would hit both free throws to cut it to eight. Tatum stepped into a pull-up triple for his eleventh point; Pritchard would register his fifth assist.
Brown drove and drew Embiid on a collapsing drop coverage play; JB pivoted and swung the ball to Vooch, who was wide open for another three-pointer. Philly was hanging around as Boston had some fumbles and turnovers in the middle of the quarter. Andre Drummond made a pair of free throws to cut Boston’s lead to just two points. Brown drove and dished to Queta for a loud two-handed dunk. A Jayson Tatum corner triple came on a broken play, which handed the C’s a seven-point lead. Nick Nurse came off the bench and was upset with the referees as they took a timeout.
Philly got the lead back to 2 points; Jaylen Brown had a sweet turnaround two-pointer over Paul George to answer. JB drilled his first triple of the game with 30 seconds left in the half; his heat check three was his eleventh point of the night. Queta had a third foul on Embiid to end the half, he would take a seat in foul trouble. Boston is up by seven, 57-50, at the half.
Jaylen Brown dunked it home on a cut through the lane to open up things in the third. Queta was whistled for another foul, his fourth of the night, as coach of the year Joe Mazzulla elected to get Vucevic back into the game. Jaylen Brown hit one of two from the line after an Oubre foul, Boston up 64-58. Jordan Walsh scrapped with Embiid down low on a loose ball retrieval, he provided a spark as a Jaylen Brown replacement. Embiid was dominating the paint for Philly; he had 23 of the team’s 65 points with 6 minutes to go in the third.
Tatum converted a big three on an offensive rebound for Boston; Maxey matched him with a deep triple of his own. Payton Pritchard’s first three of the game came on a corner look in front of the 76ers bench, the guard wasting no time to tell them about it. On the same play, Embiid was clutching his knee and went to the change rooms. Luka Garza got fouled on a trailing layup attempt as the Boston crowd found full voice after a predominantly quiet first half. The C’s are back up by 8 points as Garza converted both free throws.
Both teams hit triples, as Embiid returned to the game for Philly. Jaylen Brown attacked the paint and scored over Embiid with a layup. Tatum also took on Embiid and scored on a hook shot in the paint for Boston. The Celtics would lead by just one point, 86-85, after Maxey hit a desperate three-point jumper with the shot clock expiring.
Paul George gave the 76ers the lead on a three-pointer to open the fourth; JB whistled for an offensive foul on the next play down the court for Boston. The Celtics had back-to-back turnovers to start the 4th quarter as Scheierman passed it wide to Derrick White.
Sam Hauser swished home a corner triple as Brown drove and drew two defenders, Boston down one, 89-90. Hauser hit another three-pointer on a relocation play; he was the only player to score for Boston in the fourth. JB drove and passed it to Queta, who skied to tip it in on a roll to the bucket. Philly was still up 3 points with six minutes to go in the game.
An Embiid turnaround over Queta gave the 76ers an eight-point lead, as it looked like the series might shift back to Philadelphia. Boston had just eight points in 8 minutes as they couldn’t hit a shot. Jayson Tatum finally went to the line with two and a half minutes to go, but Boston was already down by 12 points.
The series now shifts back to Philadelphia as they host Game 6 on Thursday in another must win game.
