BOSTON — Kelly Oubre Jr. smiled near his locker as the Sixers made their way out of TD Garden after stealing home court. He and his Philadelphia teammates swung the shooting fortune from Game 1 drastically in terms of percentage (48.7-26.0 3PT%), their biggest victory from three this season with the Sixers scoring 15 more points and Boston nearly 20 points fewer than expected given the shots they generated. Yet Oubre felt additional swings beyond shots going in and out for either side.
“Love the outfit. Love the suit, brother, but this is a series. Can’t give away the nuggets,” Oubre said with a grin. “But like I said earlier, we just tried to be physical, match their intensity, stay locked in on our huddle instead of worrying about the crowd, all the noise on the outside … we just stood our ground … the first game, I think we weren’t necessary anticipating them being in heavy gap help and a lot of times we were hesitant to shoot the ball, and tonight we were not.”
Paul George called out the Sixers’ physicality following Game 1 and across the board, Philadelphia’s players believed Boston felt them more. On the Celtics side, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum projected calmness as the shooting luck numbers spoke in their favor following the game. Joe Mazzulla liked the shots they created, and they needed to bend defensively to slow Tyrese Maxey, but with Nick Nurse imploring his star to keep shooting through the pressure and misses while VJ Edgecombe re-emerged as a secondary threat, the dynamic in the series clearly changed.
And when Oubre’s three fell from the corner, Boston returned to its bench with shoulders slumped and few words shared as garbage time played out again at the Garden. This time in favor of the opposition.
“I had to change some things,” Maxey said after. “I had to realize how they were helping and where they were helping off of and the different things like that, and how I can get shots and how I can get my teammates shots, and I think I did a good job of that, but as far as losing by 30, I think we had Bona’s first time in the playoffs, VJ’s first time, Justin’s first time, Barlow’s first time. That’s four guys playing Game 1 for the first time in TD Garden against the Boston Celtics, who won a championship a couple of years ago. Listen, I wasn’t too worried about it, I said every loss in the playoffs sucks. Whether you lose by one or you lose by 40 or you lose by three, whether they come back and beat you, they all don’t feel good. It’s just one game. Now, it’s 1-1 and who cares.”
Philadelphia trailed, 26-13, early while Maxey started 2-for-9, but empty Celtics possessions piled up later in the first quarter into the second unit. Andre Drummond and Paul George fought on the offensive glass to pull the Sixers back within a possession. They still allowed 18 offensive boards to the Celtics, but leveled that advantage out with 12 of their own where they scored 1.00 point per possession to Boston’s 0.5. They also won the turnover battle, 7-11, helping them attempt more shots overall while the Celtics missed 37 threes.
The ice cold streak recalls last postseason’s meltdown against New York, where shooting variance swung against the Celtics late in Games 1-2 after riding it to 20-point leads in both games at home. This year’s team built many safety nets against those cold stretches, including the offensive rebounding aggressiveness and an added emphasis on ball control. That made some of Boston’s errant passes startling to watch as the Sixers built a double-digit edge into the fourth quarter. Officials also keyed in on illegal screening, taking away a pair of possessions in the second quarter as the Sixers took the lead.
“You lose a quarter by 11, that’s tough to come back from in a playoff game,” Mazzulla said. “You take a look, a lot of those points were stuff that we can get better at. I think they had six or seven offensive rebounds in the second quarter that they converted for either layups or three-point shots. I thought we got some good looks, didn’t (hit) and that puts more pressure on your (defense). I thought some of the other stuff, the (Quentin) Grimes threes were important. We did a good job on him in Game 1. He made those in Game 2. Just that stuff we can control we gotta get better at.”
Edgecombe’s emergence could become what matters from Game 2, his physicality, speed and off-ball impact putting pressure on the rim while shooting 6-for-10 from three recalled his opening night masterpiece in tandem with Maxey that downed the Celtics to begin the year. Boston’s defenders struggled to stay in front of the rookie and that bent the defense for Grimes, Justin Edwards and Oubre to shoot uncontested. Drummond even poured in a three in the win.
That’s all stuff the Celtics can feel decent about not happening again, but as it played out in real time during Game 2, they struggled to react to it as Edgecombe and Maxey picked up steam. Maxey stepped into back-to-back threes around screens while Boston played under their shooters all game, and for the second straight night, the Celtics juggled minutes between Neemias Queta and Nikola Vučević trying to strike the right balance on both ends of the floor. Both big men lost their minutes.
Edgecombe, who hurt his back midway through the game, smiled and laughed in the locker room after. George joined him at the podium, looking amazed after hearing that the Sixers rookie became the first player to post 30 points and 10 rebounds in a playoff game in their first season since Tim Duncan — and the youngest ever.
“We all knew where the shots were gonna come from,” Edgecombe said. “Where the help was gonna be at. Just credit my teammates, we kept trusting each other … I was in the spot and they wanted me to shoot the ball … I had to shoot the ball and hit wide open shots.”
