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Celtics Wrap: Boston’s Three-Point Excellence Ties Series Vs. 76ers
Want threes? The Celtics have them

NESN by Keagan Stiefel

Celtics Wrap

BOSTON — The Celtics bounced back to defeat the 76ers on Wednesday night at TD Garden, sending the series back to Philadelphia via a 121-87 victory.

The C’s tied the Eastern Conference semifinals series at one game apiece.


ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
The Celtics were hindered by a poor turnover margin (minus-10) and an odd philosophy shift in which they attempted their lowest number of threes (26) on the season season in Game 1, leading to a surprising loss at TD Garden.

It was a rough performance, but there was some good news to come out of it. They had two points of emphasis entering Game 2: shoot more threes and turn the ball over less.

Boston connected on 20-of-51 attempts from beyond the arc and turned the ball over just four times. There was a even stretch toward the end of the third quarter where Boston knocked four threes down in less than two minutes, ballooning their lead to 29 points. Even with league MVP Joel Embiid returning — and blocking five shots along the way, there’s no stopping the Celtics when they knock it down at that clip.

The defense shouldn’t be over looked, however. Boston was able to run it up thanks to some great defense by double bigs Robert Williams III and Al Horford, who combined for four blocks and disrupted just about every non-Embiid shot at the rim.

Huh, maybe Joe Mazzulla is on to something.

STARS OF THE GAME
— Jaylen Brown’s strong first quarter got the ball rolling for Boston, with the All-Star scoring 13 of the Celtics’ first 18 points and eventually finishing with 25 points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals.

— Marcus Smart set the tone early with his trademarked chaos, racking up 15 points, five rebounds, two assists and a block by the end of the game.

— Malcolm Brogdon provided a spark off the bench, finishing with 23 points, six rebounds, two assists and a block.

WAGER WATCH
Brogdon was given -125 odds to surpass 21.5 total points, rebounds and assists by DraftKings Sportsbook pregame. He surpassed that number thanks to the three ball, netting a $180 payout for $100 bettors.

UP NEXT
The Celtics and Sixers will head out to Philadelphia for Game 3 at Wells Fargo Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET on Friday night.

112288

This is what I was hoping for in game 1.  The now need to make sure that they bring their A game to Philly.

Friday will be a fun game.

Post Game Prosperity:

Cue: Marvin & Tammy,
“Ain’t no mountain high, ain’t no valley low enough, ain’t no swimming pool wide enough to keep me away from this game baayybe!

This one night marked the return of the newly anointed Most Valuable Backstabber, JoJo Embiid, and the return to playoff crunch time mode for Jelly Roll James Harden.
Jelly Roll (2-14) meet Jalen Brown (9-17).
Tis was a long long night.

26ers got their Liberty Bell rung by our beloveds handing them the worst a$$ Kicking they have ever experienced in 26er playoff history. Ain’t you shame ? Oughta be.

Noticeables:

-The way our beloveds were making it rain 3’s, I began to think they were having a Magic City flashback. 20-51!

-Brogdan Brought it putting up 23 big ones

-Derrick White Noise came back to TD loud and clear going 5-9 = 15

-Marcus Smart with his routine Rick Ross impersonation “Everyday i’m Hustling”
He was not going to let us lose this game.

Asked about Grant, (4-8 from 3) Marcus said “Oh Yeah. We need him” as he gobbled from his box of “Wicked Smarts Cereal”. (Where can I get some? ) He’s from Texas so they need to put it on the shelves post haste.





-Deuces Dad had a rough go of it and basically disappeared.
My Amber alert went off but it didn’t match Jayson’s description so where was he?
On the bench with 4 fouls and 7 points. That’ll never happen again so don’t get your hopes up Philly.

-Lucky for PJ Tucker that Scal predicted he’d be suspended for his Nutcracker performance on Monday. PJ started without a peep from Secaucus. Thanks a lot Scalabrine. Maybe you should be suspended for telling that lie.

- Embiid’s rusty return was a bit of a warmup at best but he did get his cardio up with his perpetual parading to the free throw line.
- Let’s hope he is sore as hell from last nights workout and will be half-stepping come Friday evening.

We are on to Philadelphia!
Cue Rob Base: Hit it  “Lets take 2 to make this thing go right, lets take 2 and make it out of sight ”

Post Game Pettiness:

No I ain’t jealous. I’m just being petty.

-James “Jelly Roll” Harden giving Backstabbing Joel Embiid a Gold Rolex with MVP 23 engraved on the back face of the watch.

A falsely elated Joel said with a big wide grin “It’s my first Rolex”.
Obviously this kind of stuff really means nothing to him or he’d already have one. He just played like he was thrilled to death. Check the local pawn shop nearest TD Garden if y’all wanna get a look at it.

-Looks like we are stuck with Captain cliche’ Reggie Miller and Hollering Hype Master Extraordinaire Kevin Harlan for now.
I made it a point to turn the sound down but for some reason I could still hear Hype Master Harlan.

Uh, I have no further questions, Your Honor.  Just some observations.  

Welcome back, James!!  Great to see you again!  Don't know who that imposter was of you a game ago, but we knew you wouldn't disappoint.

WOW!!  Didn't need Tatum.  And we won by 30+?!!

WOW!  Horford couldn't hit water falling out of a boat at sea from 3-ville..or anywhere for that matter. He did a masterful job on Embiid, though. 15 points and 3 rebounds? Yeah, there's your MVP. ME....team.  

Good recovery game from DW.  Nothing spectacular numbers-wise.  Just good to have him back and driving downhill and hitting 3's.  

Brogden steady as can be.

We've done this twice now both to MIL and PHI.  And @MIL.  Does not bode well for PHI since we will be there for a couple of games.  

Now the narrative will shift to Embiid hoisting the MVP trophy at home tomorrow.  Can't turn in a crappy game on that day.  PHI forgets how we play...as a team.  You can have the trophies, Wilt.  We'll take the titles.  

We will have to string together two games in a row at some point since we lost the home opener.  G3 will be that opportunity.  All we need to hope for is that G2 was not a Memorial Day Massacre game.  We all know what happened in that series.  

Celtics love the melodrama.  Here is comes.

But just to be on the record, THAT was what I was looking for in a response.  Now let's just play like that all the dang time as we are fully capable.

Slowly and cautiously backing off the ledge dboss,  

db

Everyone including myself must stay on an even keel when it comes to this team. We have come to see in the past, the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde character raise its ungly head only to be disappointed. As things go, Philly is strategically up on us by winning in Boston. Let us see what happens in Philly.

What is troubling is Tatum and his 7 points! If he was used as a stalking horse, ok but even if true, he should not have gone 1-7 /0-3 from the arc unless he is hurt.

112288

112288,

He'll bounce back as well.  He'll rival Embiid's performance coming tomorrow.  They'll probably cancel each other out will be my guess.

We've won in PHI before.  Nothing new there.  Expecting the same.  It would/will be very nice if we win tomorrow on National MVP Award Presentation Day.  Celtics need to show them to difference between team and me (Embiid).  Hopefully he will let it go to his head.      

db

I've been tough on Joe, rightfully in my honest but not humble opinion, but he found the formula last night.  Or, perhaps I should say, re-found it.  What was that solution?  High fgas and lots of 3s.  We took 92 fgas (vs 75 on Monday) and 51 3s.  We shot 39.2%, which is better than league average but not too far off our season average of 40.1% but there were TONS of them.

If I have one beef, and I don't know how much of this was Joe and how much was the players, but Doc kept running high pnrs, like 30'+ out, and our big who was defending their picking big didn't come out to challenge the ball on the pick.  As a result the ball was able to curl and get into the paint.  This is probably a tempest in a tea pot, we scored 36 points in the paint vs 34 for them so how bad could this have been, but in today's NBA the defense has to start out where the shooters start shooters and that's well beyond the arc.  Al, to his credit, came out more than RWill.  RWill was looking more like Hassan Whiteside last night, not wanting to leave the paint.  I realize that you have to give something up to get something, and The Time Lord had 3 blocks in 22 minutes of play and he might not have gotten those if he was drawn out of the paint, but I hate seeing opposing offenses sashaying into the paint because a big won't come out and challenge them.  I've spent years needling players like the abovementioned Whiteside for that, it'd be hypocritical of me to stop now just because we're talking about the Cs.  Fortunately the Sixers couldn't shoot last night.  Next game we might not be so lucky.


The Philly bench turned back into the pumpkins they usually are.  Melton, who lit us up in Game 1, scored 2 points on 1-5.


Marcus is firmly behind Joe, so maybe I should shut up for a bit, or at least check my fire.  Yeah, nah.  Coaching in the playoffs is more important than in the regular season and Joe is our weakest match up because of his inexperience.  Last night, though, all's well that ends well.








We only had one J last night, but that J (along with Malcolm and Grant and some others) were all we needed.  121 points is usually enough to win.  Philly only scored 87 but even if they scored their season average 115.2 points they still would have lost (and their average in the playoffs to-date is 103.5ppg.  If they played to that it'd still be a blow out).  When we score 121 we're a tough team to beat because we can play defense as well and that's what separates us from other high scoring teams like .

Jaylen might not have as many big games as Jayson but Brown delivers more efficiently.  His fg% is higher, as is his eFG%.  Tatum got > 3 more ftas/game than Brown during the regular season.  I don't know why Jaylen doesn't get more whistles, he attacks the rim more and gets plenty of contact, but if he makes this year's All-NBA team he'll get more whistles next year and then we will be even more powerful.

Jay King @ByJayKing
about 1 hour ago
The Celtics wanted to impose their will. They wanted to make a statement. They followed Jaylen Brown. “He had that look in his eyes. We know JB. He gets in that zone where he don’t talk to nobody. He’s just locked in. And that’s what you need.”

Chris Forsberg @ChrisForsberg_
about 55 minutes ago
James Harden in Game 2 when defended by Jaylen Brown: 1 PTS 0-4 FG 5:53 matchup time (Harden was scoreless + 0-4 FG vs. Marcus Smart over just 1:56 matchup time, per NBA tracking)




Grant was BALLIN' last night.  I don't understand why Joe sat him so much last series but he showed up last night.  12 points on 4-8, all from 3, but some very stalwart defense on Embiid and Tucker.  Two VERY big men.




Malcolm just bombing them out of existence.  23 points for the NBA 6th Man, 6-10 from 3.  It's important to have a good regular season, it's better to up your game in the playoffs.  Seeing players like Malcolm and Grant respond to that ugly Game 1 loss is what we need.




I hope Jayson Tatum is on the plane to Philly instead of on a milk carton.


11 turnovers for them vs 6 for us. It's amazing how this game is almost the mirror image of Game 1. We had a ton of fgas and shot well on them, shot a lot of 3s, had plenty of steals and minimal turnovers to give us more opportunities. They shot like shite, had more turnovers, few steals and not many fgas or 3s.


We won, so this isn't "sour grapes" but the refs were giving Philly every single chance last night. I hope they do the same for us down in Philly. Aside from Harden and Embiid taking 18 of Philly's 23 ftas, vs only 16 for us, PJ Tucker was initiating A LOT of contact and getting away with it. Breathe on 7', 280# Joel Embiid and the refs stop play. Pop Jaylen a few times and it's no big deal. Tucker set a moving pick on Jaylen, no whistle, then he "whapped" him with his arm and then they blew it. Embiid set a moving pick on Jayson who was trailing Harden over a pick, Embiid CLEARLY moved his right leg as Tatum was coming around him, Jayson's arm hits Harden in the face because he was hit and it's whistle on Tatum.


This was our 3rd biggest playoff margin of victory in Celtic history. It happened because we played angry and embarrassed. Now we just have to figure out how to do that again, except without the embarrassment because the embarrassment comes with an 'L'.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401545112


Bob


.

An addition to my above post:

I mentioned Marcus Smart's appreciation and endorsement of Joe.  What I failed to mention was Marcus' personal performance to back that up.  Smart with 15 points on 7-14.  He was 1-4 from 3, the one he made was the BIG one after Grant earned his Tommy Point, but for Marcus Smart to go 6-10 from 2 is what we need.  Don't just stand out at the arc and bomb away like you don't know you're not a good 3pt shooter, take it to them!  Marcus was ALL over the place on defense, EXTREMELY active.  He was willing us forward early on and Jaylen and Malcolm grabbed the reins.  He's an inspiration on defense for the entire team.  People talk about how superstars elevate the play of their teammates.  By that definition Marcus Smart is a superstar, because everybody plays harder when he is, and he usually is.

Al was 2-10, 1-8 from 3.  With Embiid back Al will be shooting more from long range, so he needs to settle down and hit his shots from 3.  VERY solid on defense, he did go out to defend the pnr beyond the arc and he had two blocks including a great one at the rim, but we need more efficient offense from him.


Bob


.

Tatum had the highest +/- with a +24. That means that while he was on the floor, we were the better team by a lot. I believe we average around 17 points to the good when he is on the floor, versus when he isn't on the floor. I saw that number somewhere.

Tatum got double or triple team coverage any time he got the ball. He was having a tough time getting his shot off most of the time, although some of his misses were from wide open looks. He only had three assists, so he may also have issues passing out of coverage.

The fact that the 6ers focus so much on Tatum leaves someone else open and they hit their shots. Eight different Celtic players hit at least one 3-pointer and that is without Tatum or Hauser, both went 0-for.

I hope Embiid's vertigo gets better. It seemed like the slightest nudge made him tumble to the floor. Didn't know a knee strain led to inner ear issues, but I learn something new every day!

Well, looking ahead, G3 poses all kinds of issues for us.  Since we lost our first home game, to win this series, we will have to win 2 games in a row at some point.  G3 is the first opportunity.  

If we thought we would have to perform out of our brains in G2, which we did, G3 will have to be an equal if not even better display as we will be dealing with the PHI crowd and Embiid's MVP presentation.  Right off the bat I would say that alone makes PHI about a 5-point favorite.  If we come down even a little from our G2 performance, we're down 2-1.  

We've won in PHI before so I don't think a sweep by them is in order, but initially it's going to be a longshot for us to win G3 the way it is currently set up with our Jekyll and Hyde mentality.  

Nothing would cripple PHI more than have all the hoopla with this presentation than to have Embiid play out of his brain but we come up with the victory.  They kind of shot themselves in the foot already by playing Embiid last night.  Should have kept him out again for G2 and they would have had a better chance of winning that game than they did last night as Harden would have resorted to Houston day's mentality.  Not saying they would have won but the score probably would have been a lot closer.

With such a resounding victory with their MVP back, 100% or not, we're back in their heads again.  I just don't think they are smart enough to figure us out in short order.  That had to sting.  Almost enough to obliterate all they did to win G1.  They know we can and will beat them at least one of these next two games.  That's just the way the playoffs go at this level.  

But we're just too deep at this point as our bench clobbered them 46-26.  That's probably not going to change.  

Our problem may be if the 3's don't fall regularly and often out of the gate, we've got to go inside and we know who's licking their proverbial chops at that point.  Maybe go mid-range on them or get Embiid to commit and find the open man charging to the basket for the open dunk.  

But again, much easier for us to win G3 and put the immediate pressure squarely back on PHI for G4 than vice versa and have the 6th man be all over us and may possibly crack us to go down 3-1.  

I think from the general tone, media wants and believes PHI will win this series.  Not much if anything has changed here since the regular season, so not sure where it's coming from except the enormous, elephantine-like pressure on PHI to at least make it to the ECF.  That's the better, sexier narrative/story vs. Tatum wanting to get back to the Finals to right his wrong.  It's win/win for the media.  If PHI wins, it's the great American struggle/success story, finally moving on.  If they lose, the media will jump on PHI like savage dogs and help jumpstart the House of Cards collapse.    

One thing is for certain, one of these two teams will lose 3 more games over the next potential 5 games left.  That I can predict with 100% accuracy!!

Ktron, am I missing anything from my media read or am I makin' crap up again hearing what I want to hear?!!

db

The Celtics tied things up 1-1 and checked most of the boxes along the way.

The tone of this game was set immediately when Jaylen Brown took that low defensive stance and stared Harden in the face.

The Celtics defense was really good especially against secondary actions.  They cut off the head of the snake by limiting Harden to an abysmal 2-14 outing.

The next box that got check was protecting the basketball.  The 16 turnovers in game 1 had to be addressed and it was.  The Celtics had 6 turnovers for the game, 7 if you look at the Team turnover totals.  

The Celtics took 92 shots including a 51 piece from deep.  They shot 46.7 from the field and 39.2% from deep.  They made 20 3 pointers.  The opportunities to shoot were open all game long because the Celtics played with pace and space.  They kept the ball moving and made the extra pass to search out the best shot.  This production was a big improvement over the 75 FGA with 26 3 Point attempts in our game 1 loss.

Tatum had a subpar game, no excuses to be made.  It happens.  I thought he got himself into a little funk early on.

The Celtics did not miss his scoring because we saw Jaylen, Malcolm, Marcus, Derrick and G Will all play exceptionally well on offense.

It was nice to see Grant play a meaningful role.  Has anyone noticed that he seems more reserved out there? Less demonstrative?  A stay in the Dog house yields a new perspective.

The return of newly crowned MVP Joel Embid may be a blessing in disguise.  He will suck the life out of the Sixers like some powerful vacuum cleaner.  Everything will go in even the good things that should stay out.

I only have just one, 'they could be better at'  Transition Defense off missed shots.

Finally I really enjoy watching the post game interviews with CJ.  His interactions with the media is loaded with hostility and i find them to be quite amusing  It is not the same as a BB interview where bill intimidates anyone that pries too deeply into his decision making.  If CJ can take this contending Celtics team all the way, he will have earned a higher level of respect for a job well done.  The media will be less antagonistic.

Game #3 is on Friday and I am looking for a positive carry over from game #2.  The Sixers will be focused on how to get Joel reintegrated into the flow.  The Celtics just need to wear their hard hats and bring their lunch pails to the party.

I'm not sure but I think this YouTuber is a Sixers fan because he is sounding increasingly angry and frustrated as he details one bad Sixer defensive play after another.   Not bad analysis, he understands the game and how defenses are supposed to work, but the real joy is listening to him get more and more exasperated.




Bob


.

This is a real tough one.  G3, when split 1-1, is a mini-pivotal G5 when tied 2-2.  Given that we should not have lost G1 in the first place then came storming back in G2 to even things up but having to win that game or things were over for us, who's going to win G3 is a toss up in my eyes.  With the MVP Embiid Show going on before the game and the pressure on Embiid and the team to perform and win not only tonight as well as this series, we are again putting the microscope on our guys to give themselves a little breathing room which a pull the chair out from under you win by us would do tonight.  

The winner of this game tonight will give us a glimpse of who is where in their own minds in the grand scheme of things.  PHI wins, and PHI knows they can get the Celtic monkey as well as the abject failure of the 2nd Round off their backs.  They lose and at least a couple of PHI front office chairs will immediately go from 4 legs to 3 along with coach's chair.  

This is a battle of wills.  Hi Will!!  Who wants to move on more.  Who will suffer the most if you're not playing in the next round and wants to avoid that like the plague?  Both teams have stories and have grown over the years to get to this point.  

After our G2 performance, one would think things are back to normal for us, but we know better where we'd prefer not to have to know better as with championship team's past.  We at least have a rich history to compare a current contender to past championship teams.  Most teams not named the Lakers, Bulls or Warriors, do not. So far, our current contending team looks like no other of ours that I can recall. Perhaps it is too early.  Perhaps we have not hit our stride yet and the best is yet to come starting tonight.  We will have to follow up a win with another win to move forward from this series.  That's a fact, Jack.  Tonight is as good a chance as any. One of only 3 potentially.  

If we win tonight's game, I'll be very impressed given all that is going on.  It would show us the competitive savvy of a heartless, savage dream-killing machine blowing up the party like the balloon game did.  Does this team have that?  Maybe Coach Joe is playing that game for them instead of game film this week.  That'd be the one I'd show them.  

To be honest, I don't know if this team has that killing instinct.  Well, I think they have it.  We've seen it a couple of times.  @MIL is a good example.  That game got in their heads so much they forgot to take care of business in the first round dangerously looking ahead to get back at us.  

Hopefully G2 will have that same effect on PHI tonight despite all the festivities.  If we fold up like a cheap suit tonight, well, let's face it, we won't be surprised.  We'll just throw it in the can like all the other long list of inexplicable games this season we could have done better in, should have won, had the chance to win but didn't, had a big lead and let up, etc.

But if we are ready to step outside our shell and make a statement, tonight will be the night.  Without looking, I'm sure PHI is favored, probably PHI(-4.0) I'm going to guess.  Now I'll check.  Hold on a sec...Dang!!  Way off.  BOS(-2.0).  Practically a tie.  PHI has a 57% of winning on the BPI stat.  Whatever.  Vegas is clearly as conflicted as the rest of us.  

The window tonight will be pried open just a little bit regarding the battle of wills and and give us all a glimpse of which team could be moving on.  But then you have the Celtic melodrama.  They may lose this one just to prove they can win under the worst of high pressure conditions.  The 2008 team in the first two rounds did not have to go through quite the pressure this team likes to put itself under.  Those first two rounds were all won on each opponents home courts through Game 7 which we had home court.  Win one, lose one.  Now granted had the 2008 team lost a game out of sequence, then it would have been interesting to see their response, but this current team is taking a different path.  Does it make them better?  We will only be able to compare if this team hoist the Finals Trophy.  Otherwise we'll throw this season in the Boulevard Of Broken Dreams can.    

We're a long way from any of that right now.  Sorry.  I literally cannot predict tonight's winner.  It may come down to the last play.  I know what I'd like to see...a carbon copy of G2 by us!!  Highly unlikely that will happen.  

A loss by PHI tonight would be demoralizing for sure.  Do we or does this team have the Mamba mentality in them?  A last second shot by us for the win would be far more humiliating than another blowout by us.  But I'll take either!! A blowout by PHI, though, would really Nurse Ratchet up our own drama just the way this team likes it.

Well, going to stay away from this one, predicting and otherwise.  Going for the draw.  More Water Aerobics with Ktron and worcester tonight for me.  It really is refreshing!

db

I'm hoping for another blowout with a big game by both JT and JB.

That would make my day, worcester!! A win plus humiliation for PHI!!

db