Celtics Latest Closeout Letdown Against 76ers Included Continued Concerns

BOSTON — Derrick White received his best look yet since his first round shooting slump began, a wide open look in front of the Sixers’ bench to tie the game. Neemias Queta had just missed his and-one free throw, Sam Hauser’s second chance three landed in Jayson Tatum’s hands, and the ball swung back to White. As the 76ers’ bench players screamed and waved behind him, White unloaded and his shot slid over the rim into Paul George’s hands. The Celtics never made a shot again over the final seven minutes.

“We got some good looks, weren’t able to capitalize on them,” Joe Mazzulla said.

Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and White failed to make a field goal in the final quarter after Boston built a 13-point lead in the third. It marked a familiar, albeit magnified version of their past playoff closeout woes. In 2024, the Celtics lost to Atlanta and Miami at home with chances to finish the series. The 2022 Celtics lost Game 6 at home to Miami ahead 3-2 in the series. More recently, Boston dropped Game 2 against Miami and Cleveland after series opening wins. They infamously dropped the first two games at home to New York last year.

And they’ve now dropped two straight in TD Garden to Philadelphia after winning Game 1 by 32 points. Round one doesn’t stand at risk, for now, and the Celtics’ credentials as contenders don’t appear tainted. But they stood again, now 2-4 in their last six home playoff games, and 25-18 since 2021-22, unable to explain those struggles.

“I don’t know,” Payton Pritchard said. “We’re gonna have to figure that out. I can’t really put my finger on it, but honestly, it feels like we’ve been better on the road and we don’t want that to be the case. We want to be dominant at home and on the road, so definitely gotta get that fixed.”

Numerous shocking statistics emerged from Tuesday’s loss, including 13 of those 18 setbacks at home coming with the Celtics as double-digit favorites. Dick Lipe of NBC Sports Boston noted that Boston fell to 4-11 following 20-point postseason wins since 2022. They’ve dropped six in a row since the championship run. Their 11 fourth quarter points became tied for the fifth-fewest in a Celtics playoff fourth quarter.

It’s hard to lump all those together, different teams, but the same core played through them all. And as much as their DNA includes a championship, resilience following defeats and coming through in difficult positions, including on the road, they also have the propensity to relax in an advantageous position. They make it harder on themselves.

“There’s a human element, part of it. We’re not perfect,” Tatum said after taking only two shots in the fourth and missing a pair of late free throws. “After each game, a win and/or a loss, there are a lot of things we look back on and talk about that we could be better at, and tonight’s no different.”

While home defeats only burned the Celtics last year against New York, in 2023 against the Heat and in the 2022 Finals, this year’s team could have less room for error. Their wins and losses in the series have swung across three-point shooting lines, and Tuesday’s game felt like a contest as both teams struggled early, emerged above 30% from three into the second half then late in the third, as they both hovered around 32%, Boston dipped while Philadelphia rose to 35.7%. Mazzulla contested threes swinging the game, pointing to a 25-for-50 night from two, but the Celtics still haven’t won in this series without hitting 16+ threes.

Their offensive rebounding rate remains dominant, adding 15 more on Tuesday to bring their series rate to 36.8 OREB%. Their turnovers have stayed relatively low despite momentary spikes in the series (14.1 TOV%). Their bench has come through, and with Pritchard dominating throughout Tuesday’s game, he only attempted one shot in the fourth while White’s struggles continued into the fourth. Mazzulla opted to insert him for Hauser with four minutes left. Hauser had hit two of the Celtics’ three shots in the quarter at that point, and Philadelphia went on a 7-0 run against White, Tatum, Brown, Hauser and Queta soon after them. Queta’s foul trouble continued, but Mazzulla leaned on him for 10:27 in the fourth. That allowed Joel Embiid to stay in the paint defensively.

Pritchard said after that the Celtics needed to get to a comfortable spot and shoot to break the run. Mazzulla, staying steady, stressed that Boston did a lot of good, and simply needed to fix a number of possessions per usual. That even-keeled approach after wins and losses guided past teams deep into the postseason, and avoided losses from lingering into bad streaks all season. Still, Pritchard sounded more agitated about the approach in this one.

“I thought we had a decent first half,” he said. “I just think we were a little lackadaisical at times when we could’ve put them away, and we just messed around with the game. When you have a team on the brink of elimination, you really gotta put your foot on the gas and finish it. I thought we let them have life at times that they didn’t need to. I don’t know if it’s a home thing, but we gotta be more dominant in certain situations. Just cleaning up execution stuff, breaking open, getting the ball, rebounding, defensive mistakes. I know I had one or two.”