Boston Celtics

7 takeaways as shorthanded Celtics melt down late, fall to 76ers

Joel Embiid scored 41 points to lead the 76ers to the win.

76ers Celtics takeaways
Jayson Tatum and the Celtics took on the 76ers on Monday. Jim Davis/Globe Staff

By Tom Westerholm

3 minutes to read

Here are the takeaways as the shorthanded Celtics fell apart down the stretch against the 76ers on Monday, losing 108-103.

1. Two things happened late that cost the Celtics the game.

The first was a difficult stretch offensively, as the Celtics let a seven-point lead late in the fourth quarter dwindle until Danny Green buried a 3-pointer over a late rotation to put the Sixers ahead. In the last seven minutes, the Celtics committed five turnovers and were blocked twice (which amounted to the same thing).

“That cost us the game — turnovers,” Jaylen Brown said.

The second was Joel Embiid, who dominated in the fourth quarter particularly, en route to 41 points. Enes Freedom has the size to battle with Embiid when the superstar big gets into the post, but Embiid is too skilled and shifty at his height, and he buried a sequence of difficult jumpers. His shot over both Freedom and Marcus Smart in the final seconds was the nail in the coffin.

“At that point, we were trying to take it out of his hands and almost caught by surprise that they were going to him with the same play,” Celtics coach Ime Udoka said. “So right when the ball was in the air, we should have been there to take it out of his hands. He dribbled it obviously baseline, made a tough shot but we want other guys to have to beat us at that point.”

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2. It should be noted, of course, that the Celtics had seven players in health and safety protocols: Al Horford, Josh Richardson, Grant Williams, Juancho Hernangomez, Jabari Parker, Sam Hauser and Brodric Thomas. Dennis Schröder was out sick (not with COVID) and Robert Williams was out due to personal reasons.

The Celtics were by no means whole. Neither were the Sixers, however: Tyrese Maxey, Andre Drummond and Shake Milton were all in health and safety protocols as well.

3. The Celtics wasted another dominant performance by their bench, which outscored the 76ers 18-1. Payton Pritchard, who we wrote about earlier Monday, had a second nice performance in as many games with real playing time, pouring in 14 points on 6-for-9 shooting (2-for-5 from 3-point range), while Aaron Nesmith threw down a monstrous dunk after a nice defensive play.

The Celtics’ bench outscored the Knicks 47-3 on Saturday, which means the bench has outscored opponents 66-4 in the last two games.

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4. The game started with a lengthy and somewhat unnerving delay — as the lights dimmed and the Celtics were about to be announced, an emergency alert went off telling everyone to remain in their seats until further notice. The building, it seemed, might have to be evacuated.

Eventually, however, game officials found the source of the issue — a burst pipe that caused alarms to go off. The contest started and finished mercifully without incident.

5. Fresh off being named Eastern Conference Player of the Week, Jayson Tatum had another concerning game in a season that has had a concerning number of them. For the third time this year, he finished with six turnovers, and he was 0-for-3 from behind the arc. Even with a 7-for-13 performance from behind the arc slotted into the middle, Tatum is now 16-for-52 (30.1 percent) from deep in his last six games. Even getting to the line nine times (7-for-9) didn’t save Tatum from a relatively underwhelming 17 points.

6. Once again, a team looked to exploit Enes Freedom in the pick-and-roll — this time with Seth Curry (26 points on 10-for-14 shooting) and Tobias Harris (25 points, 7-for-13). The Celtics were limited by their health issues, but Freedom played a team-high 40 minutes and the Sixers took advantage.

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Freedom was good on the other end: 15 points on 7-for-10 shooting with 11 rebounds. His six offensive rebounds produced five second-chance points. The defensive issues, however, are going nowhere.

7. Jaylen Brown dropped 30 points to lead the Celtics with a variety of tough shots and explosive, powerful moves inside the arc. He looked the healthiest we’ve seen him look since he return from his hamstring injury.

After the game, Brown was asked if he still believes in this team.

“No question,” Brown said. “I think it’s an obvious answer for me. I know people are probably tired of hearing it. People have lost belief and faith, but mine is unwavering.

“I think we still can be a good team. I think we’ve shown it in spurts. … If the question is — you asked, ‘Do I still believe?’ 100 percent, regardless of if anybody else does or not.”

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