Jaylen Brown was at his best in Game 2 as Celtics even series vs. 76ers: 8 takeaways
“He took the challenge.”
The Celtics badly needed a victory in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference semifinal against the 76ers on Wednesday, and they delivered with a massive 121-87 blowout that evened the series at 1-1 despite Joel Embiid’s return.
Here are the takeaways.
1. The Celtics are undeniably frustrating sometimes. If they had simply beaten the Sixers when the NBA’s MVP couldn’t play due to his LCL sprain in Game 1, they would be heading back to Philadelphia with a commanding 2-0 lead instead of a 1-1 tie. All they needed to do was slam the door in the final minutes, or get a couple of stops against James Harden, or find Jaylen Brown a few times in the second and third quarters, or see a couple of 3-pointers fall from their role players (or, yes, get a couple of crucial calls down the stretch that the NBA admitted should have gone their way).
But whether the Celtics let off the gas or play down to their competition or simply keep catching teams inspired to win in the absence of superstars like Embiid, Devin Booker, or Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, they do have an important redeeming trait: When they stumble, they tend to right themselves quickly. They did it again on Wednesday, blowing the Sixers out in the second half with a barrage of 3-pointers and their best defensive performance of the postseason so far. After allowing James Harden to explode for 45 points in Game 1, the Celtics held the Sixers to 87 points in Game 2 — Philadelphia’s second-lowest scoring output of the season.
“It felt amazing,” Smart said. “We know we’re going to score the ball. We know we can score the ball. Defensively is where we’ve got to make our names and continue to show our identity. It felt good to come out and impose our will defensively.”
2. Jaylen Brown had a relatively pedestrian night offensively from an All-NBA candidate (23 points, 9-for-17 shooting), but his defense was spectacular as he helped harass James Harden into a 12-point, 2-for-14 evening after Harden demolished the Celtics with 45 points in Monday’s game.
“Honestly, it’s as good of a game as I’ve ever seen him play,” Al Horford said after the game. “He was so locked in, so poised on the defensive end, his presence and then on offense, just being solid and continuing to make plays, he was a difference maker for us.”
Brown got the Celtics started early. He scored 11 of their first 16 points, including a 3-pointer to open the game to go along with a pair of floaters and a nifty reverse layup while showing off herky-jerky footwork. More important, however, was his defense. The Celtics, especially Joe Mazzulla, often talk about nailing their pick-up points defensively, and Brown helped keep Harden off balance by picking him up early.
“JB did a great job getting us started with his defensive presence and it passed down to Smart, to Grant, to Al, to everybody,” Mazzulla said. “I thought we just had a defensive presence about us, and that led to our offense.”
3. Joel Embiid returned, but he didn’t look like himself in 26 minutes and sat the fourth quarter with the Celtics comfortably ahead.
“Rusty,” Sixers coach Doc Rivers said when asked how Embiid looked. “You know early on I thought he got a rhythm a couple of times and I thought we were on a rhythm as well but we expected that. We knew there was going to have to be some type of growing pains bringing him back so I’m glad we got it out of the way today.”
Rust might be the main issue after a very long layoff, but Embiid didn’t look healthy for much of the game, and he remained behind the play at one point, grabbing at his knee. Rumors continue to swirl about the severity of his knee injury, and Wednesday will do little to assuage the concerns even though he recorded five blocks against Celtics players who challenged him repeatedly at the rim.
“There’s no excuses,” Embiid said. “I mean I’m out here so I’m good. I’m good to play. We just got to be better as a team. Like I said, we didn’t execute what we were supposed to do and they played freely all night. They got whatever they wanted.
“As far as me, I’m good.”
4. Jayson Tatum played just 19 minutes due to foul trouble and scored just seven points. His previous scoring low this season was 12 on Feb. 8, which was ironically also against the 76ers in a 5-for-15 performance (the Celtics also won that one). He scored 14 twice in losses to the Knicks and Heat.
It has been a while since Tatum scored seven points or less. His most recent was against the Wizards on Feb. 14 in 2021 when he went 3-for-14 in 23 minutes and scored six points. Prior to that, he dropped five points against the Bucks in the Disney World bubble. The other 16 games in which he’s scored fewer than seven points in his career came in 2019 or earlier.
“It’s what we’ve been saying all year long: I think our strength is our depth,” Malcolm Brogdon said. “The way the roster is constructed, we have guys like me, Derrick [White], Grant [Williams] who are playing behind our two superstars and ready to fill in when we can.”
5. The Sixers threatened in the third quarter, trimming an 18-point lead to 13 with 4:23 remaining in the period on a layup by P.J. Tucker. A nervous TD Garden crowd started to cheer, as if responding to the threat of the run the Sixers appeared to be brewing.
Derrick White answered with a triple — the first of 10 the Celtics would make from the moment on, which put the game far out of reach. The Celtics’ role players stepped up down the stretch, as Grant Williams and Malcolm Brogdon combined for seven made 3-pointers in the second half before the third unit tacked on several more in a fourth quarter that was almost entirely garbage time.
“I was pleased with the types of [3-pointers] that we take,” Mazzulla said. “Again, I don’t want to come down and just jack them up there for the sake of jacking them up there. But I thought our defense led to our energetic offense, and I thought we did a great job not passing jump-open ones, and we still got good looks at the rim. So we just have to continue to find that balance of creating 2-on-1s, finding the right time to shoot it.”
Getting Grant Williams back feels particularly important in a series that will heavily feature him on both ends.
“He has the ability to guard different guys and execute different matchups with different coverages for us, and at his best just brings a level of physicality and a level of poise to our team,” Mazzulla said. “I thought he did a great job of that tonight.”
6. Marcus Smart suffered a chest contusion in Game 1, which left him questionable for a while before Game 2. At one point in the third quarter, Embiid landed on Smart inadvertently with all his weight, and Smart was forced to exit the game with a shoulder stinger and a cut lip.
For some reason, he returned to the game, although his presence was encouraging for the team.
“I’m sore as [expletive],” Smart said. “I’m really sore. But I’m going to be okay.”
7. Al Horford’s struggles from the field continued. He was a paltry 2-for-10 from the floor and 1-for-8 from 3-point range in Game 2. The Celtics could really use a bounce-back game from him in Philadelphia. Stretching Embiid’s defense to the 3-point line is important even if he’s limited.
8. Can the Celtics take both games in Philadelphia? That’s a tall order, but they looked like the better team during the regular season even when Embiid was healthy, and Embiid doesn’t look particularly healthy right now and it took one of Harden’s best playoff performances ever and a couple of calls the NBA admitted were wrong to claim Game 1.
Winning both games would restore a lot of faith in a team that hasn’t always inspired confidence over the last few months but still has every mark of a contender and what could be a favorable path back to where they want to be.
The Celtics will try to yank control of the series back in Game 3 on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com