BOSTON — Joe Mazzulla called what began as one of the more frantic, disorganized efforts in recent weeks one of the best games of the year for the Celtics. He quickly clarified, not calling it the best win per se, but that the information, clips of how the 76ers guarded Boston with aggressive switching and proof of the way the Celtics can adapt to new defensive looks on the fly even against the most difficult coverage. Mazzulla held up the stat sheet when asked by CLNS Media how comfortable Boston has grown against switching. Pretty comfortable, he said.
“We were guarded differently than we have throughout the year, and how we were able to execute it. It gives us something to work on,” Mazzulla said. “They switched and took away threes and forced us to play dribble drive. As long as you take care of the ball, play physical and get to the free throw line … once we were able to take away their multiple shot possessions, and then get to certain guys we wanted to shoot and make sure we contested, then it evened itself out.”
The Celtics beat the 76ers, 117-99, despite rocky stretches throughout the first three quarters. Boston learned, adjusted and closed on a 17-0 run midway through the fourth after Philadelphia pulled within two. It didn’t look like the best game of the year, but Mazzulla felt that passionately about the steps it showed in what Jaylen Brown has described as the team’s mission to become the smartest team. He even acknowledged he’s not married to threes, with Boston scoring a runaway victory in the game where the team shot the fewest threes it had all season.
Boston thrived attacking mismatches early, Jayson Tatum scoring past Tyrese Maxey, Kristaps Porzingis racking up four first half free throw attempts and Brown generating 18 points in a manner more reflective of an erratic Celtics performance against Sixers depth that included two-way wing Ricky Council IV.
Derrick White ripped off three blocks in the first six minutes like he did in Chicago, rotating in front of Paul Reed and Tobias Harris replacing Joel Embiid on Philadelphia’s front line. Rebounding became the biggest mark on Boston’s first half effort. Turnovers against an active small-ball Sixers lineup put the Celtics behind by as many as seven points in the second quarter. Porzingis noted that Boston will try to attack the same way over and over again as that answer devastates a coverage, then when the other team pivots, move on to the next solution.
“Early in my career, me and Brad (Stevens) were talking one day and he said it, it was ok, because he’s going to be shooting threes … we can put Marcus Smart on him or some guard who’s going to be in my knees, be super physical,” Porzingis said. “I was struggling with that early in my career, then I started to figure that out. Then there’s the veers, where they give me the pop, then take it away. So it takes some time. At this point in my career, I’ve seen all the coverages, I know the things they’re going to throw at me and I’m just a much more complete player to create advantages out of those situations. Tonight was no different.”
The Celtics entered Tuesday out-scoring opponents by 8.6 points per 100 possessions, but fell behind the Sixers’ bench by six during their first half rotation without him. Brown took on point guard duties and traded the good and the bad. Nic Batum blocked him as he over-dribbled in isolation. Brown cut for two and the foul through Batum on the following possession. He threw an arm bar at Council IV and Maxey trying to isolate them. Meanwhile, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Mo Bamba reached the rim, with the latter hitting a three to take a lead midway through the frame. Sam Hauser frantically tried to carry the ball into the half court as Mazzulla called timeout trailing by six.
Brown scored two straight transition layups to tie the game, then Porzingis and Tatum scored against mismatches inside to restore a 53-51 halftime advantage. Philadelphia built a 6-2 offensive rebounding advantage, only turned it over once while Boston gave the ball away seven times and hit seven threes in the time that the Celtics drained two. The Sixers also held a major advantage in the shot total category. The Sixers beat Boston in their first meeting in November before playing them to within 10 points twice.
Among teams the Celtics have played multiple times this season, Philadelphia probably played them more difficult than any other team. That continued on Tuesday, Boston had to decide at halftime its direction offensively while shooting 16-for-19 inside and 3-for-16 on jump shots.
“It’s a lot of growth,” Brown said. “Credit to the coaching staff, but also credit to our guys. Every single night we see different coverages. Team choose to guard us different ways, they might switch, they might maintain, they might go small, they might go double big. Everybody is playing different ways, and I guess they’re trying to figure out which is the remedy for success against us. We’re able to adjust, we’re versatile, we’re able to read the game differently. Philly was aggressive. They went small at times. Was able to recognize, get the ball where it needed to go, we were able to get downhill, create mismatches, get to the basket when they went small, they had nobody at the rim. So it’s just about reading the game, and I think we have taken tremendous steps in that regard.”
Boston built an 11-point lead midway through the third quarter, White and Porzingis feeding each other for dunks before Porzingis flushed home a Brown miss at the rim. That lead narrowed briefly when Tatum missed at the rim and waved his hand at the official, picking up a technical and allowing Maxey to score four points on the ensuing possession. Maxey scored 30 points in fewer than three quarters, before only scoring two in the fourth when Tatum’s takeover slammed the door shut on Philadelphia’s effort built around the little things.
The Sixers, however, made one more statement into the fourth. Philadelphia went on a 14-3 run after to pull within 91-89, Cam Payne hitting back-to-back threes before Harris’ forced only Boston’s third timeout of the game to that point. Pritchard grabbed an important steal on Payne and sent Tatum out on the run for free throws and a six-point lead. Al Horford extended the decisive run with his second finish inside to improve to 4-for-4 at the basket, doubling his per game attempts inside from 1.3 this season and 2.3 this month.
Tatum, Porzingis and Brown scored in succession, going up by 17, and Tatum ran it up to 29 points with a pair of dunks after the Sixers emptied their bench, falling only two assists short of his third career triple-double.
“We were really efficient in the paint,” Mazzulla said. “That game can be a misleading game of is it math or is it effort? Sometimes it’s both. Sometimes you have to keep the effort up until the math plays itself out, and I thought our guys did a good job of that.”
