The Celtics knew the 76ers would still pose a challenge without Joel Embiid. They said they respected their second-round opponent even without their star big man and the likely MVP.
And yet, once again, they found a way to make life harder on themselves.
Game 1 was not what the Celtics designed, and it was another MVP who put them in a hole. James Harden scored 45 points in an electrifying performance – including the game-winning 3-pointer with seconds remaining – as the 76ers went into TD Garden and stole Game 1 with a stunning 119-115 victory.
Jayson Tatum scored 39 points, Jaylen Brown added 23 points and Malcolm Brogdon scored 20, but they couldn’t overcome 16 turnovers – several of them coming in bad spots with the game on the line – or Harden’s 45 points, which included seven 3-pointers. It included a devastating step-back triple over Al Horford with 8.1 seconds remaining, which quieted the Garden crowd.
Marcus Smart committed his sixth turnover on the next play before Tatum committed a foul. Then, Paul Reed’s two free throws sealed the win and a 1-0 series lead for the Sixers.
The Celtics had several leads late, and took a 96-91 lead after Brown’s long 3-pointer before they gave up an 8-0 run, which included an outstanding stretch from Harden. He hit a step-back 3 to give Philly a 99-96 lead, and then another moments later to put them up 102-100.
Boston answered with a quick run to retake the lead after Tatum found Brogdon for a go-ahead layup and a 104-102 lead. Tatum was inadvertently hit in the groin by PJ Tucker, but re-entered after a quick break.
The C’s and Sixers continued trading blows. Tobias Harris hit a game-tying triple before the Celtics took a 111-107 lead on Marcus Smart’s three-point play. With 1:38 to go, Maxey drew a three-point play, beating Smart to the spot on a bang-bang play that forced the officials to go to the monitor. After a review, the ruling stood and Maxey hit the free throw to make it 111-110.
On the ensuing possession, the Celtics grabbed a pair of offensive rebounds and converted on the third try when Al Horford finished a layup. Paul Reed made two free throws with 57 seconds left before the C’s committed a turnover in a costly spot. As the shot clock expired, Malcolm Brogdon threw the ball away right to Maxey, who took it home for a go-ahead layup and 114-113 Sixers lead.
The Celtics called timeout before drawing up a play for Tatum, who was fouled and made two go-ahead free throws as the C’s retook the lead. But on the next trip, Harden hit the biggest shot of the night, pulling up and draining a 3-pointer over Horford to give the Sixers a 117-115 lead.
After a mostly strong first half, the Celtics faded late in the second quarter and it carried over into the third. They committed four turnovers in the opening 4:16 of the second half. Despite shooting the lights out, even though the Sixers didn’t have Embiid, the Celtics found themselves trailing. They were down six after Harden drilled a tough, step-back 3 in the corner with 5:06 left in the third.
But then the Celtics finally started getting some stops. Smart hit a floater, Tatum made two free throws and then Malcolm Brogdon made back-to-back buckets, including the go-ahead layup that put them up 85-83. Suddenly there was some life inside TD Garden.
Maxey didn’t let it last for long. The Celtics held the Sixers scoreless for more than four minutes before the guard hit a tough floater over Robert Williams. He hit another jumper with 10 seconds left before Tatum’s drive with 0.5 seconds to go tied the game at 87 heading to the fourth.
Other takeaways:
– Early on, the absence of Embiid was glaring. It was continuous layup lines for the Celtics, who were getting anything they wanted inside.
Tatum was slicing into the middle for easy jams, leading to an early Celtics lead. After falling behind early, a 7-0 run was highlighted by a thunderous dunk from Brown followed by an alley-oop from Robert Williams. The C’s were getting absolutely no resistance from the Sixers’ interior defense, and it showed in the box score. They shot 85 percent from the field in the first quarter, and were at 73.7 percent at halftime. They had 26 points in the paint after the first, and held a 40-22 edge inside at halftime.
– Tatum was due for a strong shooting night after a subpar – by his standards – first round. He took control in the second quarter, as he scored 20 points in the period. He scored 12 consecutive Celtics points during one stretch, and his pull-up 3-pointer with 3:31 left in the half gave the Celtics their largest lead at that point at 12. He entered the halftime locker room shooting 11-for-15, including 4-for-4 from 3-point range.
– As strong as they looked offensively in the first half, the Celtics could have been better. They committed seven turnovers in the first half, and their execution waned late in the first half as the Sixers went on a 11-4 half-ending run to cut the Celtics’ lead to just three at the break.
– The Celtics knew the Sixers had other threats beyond Embiid. But with some more opportunity, De’Anthony Melton played better than expected in the first half, as he scored 17 points on five 3-pointers.
– If the game seemed more free-flowing than usual in the first half, it made sense. Neither team took a free throw until there were 30.8 seconds remaining in the second quarter, when Brown went to the line for two.
– Grant Williams didn’t play in three of six games in their first-round series against the Hawks, and played just one minute in Game 4, but he was the third Celtics player to come in off the bench when he checked in with 4:15 remaining in the first quarter.