Of all the ugly numbers the Celtics stared at on crumpled-up stat sheets after the 76ers’ 119–115 win in Game 1, one stood out: 88. As in the number of points James Harden, Tyrese Maxey and De’Anthony Melton scored in the series opener. For years Boston has been defined by its defense, with its backcourt spearheaded by Marcus Smart leading the way. Early in the Celtics’ first-round series against the Hawks, Smart said he believed the trio of Smart, Derrick White and Malcolm Brogdon was the best defensive backcourt in the NBA. Against Philadelphia, it looked like one of its worst.
On Wednesday, the Celtics’ defense showed up, and after a 121–87 laugher in Game 2, this conference semifinals is a series again. After scoring 45 points in Game 1, Harden was limited to 12. Maxey had 13. Melton had two. Jaylen Brown, another member of Boston’s elite defensive perimeter group, hounded Harden early. White made hustle plays. Smart, who has been battling a variety of upper body injuries, pressured the Sixers’ collection of ballhandlers all over the floor.
“I thought we had a defensive presence about us,” said Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla.
Added Sixers coach Doc Rivers, “Their ball pressure ate us up all night.”
The Celtics were frustrated after Monday’s loss. Angry, said Brogdon. “We [felt] like we should have won that game,” Brogdon said. On Wednesday, they played like it. They held Philadelphia to 39.2% shooting. They limited the Sixers to 20% from three. The return of Joel Embiid, the freshly minted MVP, proved to be a nonfactor. Embiid’s numbers (15 points, five blocks) were decent. But the Celtics, keenly aware of Embiid’s knee injury and conditioning issues that come with not playing for more than a week, tested the big man’s mobility often.
“We underperformed last game,” Brown said. “We wanted to come out and play to the best of our ability.”
Asked whether he liked his team’s angry approach, Mazzulla deadpanned, “Yes.”
There were adjustments. Grant Williams, an afterthought for most of the postseason, played 29 minutes. He scored 12 points. He knocked down four threes. He bodied Embiid in the paint. “I tried to make every single thing hard, even walking up the floor,” said Williams. He chased Tobias Harris and P.J. Tucker. Williams’s assertiveness offensively—specifically his aggressiveness, something Mazzulla has harped on—kept him on the floor to play significant minutes defensively.
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Brown scored 25 points. “He set the tone,” said Brogdon, who added 23. Smart and White chipped in 15 apiece. “Our defense led to an energetic offense,” said Mazzulla. By the middle of the third quarter the Celtics had attempted as many threes (26) as they did in all of Game 1. Al Horford’s final stat line (five points on 2-of-10 shooting) was ugly, but he grabbed seven rebounds, blocked two shots and was a physical presence on Embiid all night. “They made every tough play that had to be made,” Rivers said. On a night when Jayson Tatum scored seven points, Boston won by 34.
“They pressured us, they denied us, they played in our air space all game,” said Rivers. “We talked about it this morning, we talked about it before the game. You can talk about intensity and force all you want, but when you get on the court and it’s actually being applied you have to be able to handle it. We didn’t handle it very well tonight.”
Philadelphia leaves Boston with home court advantage, but it’s the Celtics with momentum. Boston has dominated the Sixers in recent years. It’s won five straight postseason series against Philly. Horford is as good as they get defending Embiid. Smart has a track record of success against Harden. The Celtics took three out of four from Philadelphia during the regular season with the Sixers needing a 52-point effort from Embiid late in the season to squeeze out their only win. Game 1 was a clunker. In Game 2, Boston got its swagger back.
Now it has to keep it. Focus issues have plagued the Celtics for the past two seasons. They give games away. Game 5 against Atlanta. Game 1 against the Sixers. As the series shifts to Philadelphia, they must find a way to fix it. Frustration fueled Boston’s win Wednesday. The Celtics would rather not need it again.
“Does that edge stay or does it go away?” asked Williams. “For us it’s a matter of maintaining that same mentality, that same physicality, that same approach going into the [next] game. That will be vital in this series. We have to bend but never break.”
