Recreation Recap: 76ers 109, Celtics 100
The Philadelphia 76ers defeat the Boston Celtics, 109-100, in Recreation 7 to win the sequence 4-3.
The Philadelphia 76ers have been all the time a wild card this season, persistently inconsistent and by no means wholesome for a big stretch.
However the potential for giant issues was all the time there, and the Sixers did large issues of their first-round sequence with the Boston Celtics, getting back from a 3-1 sequence deficit and profitable Recreation 7 on the street on Saturday.
The Sixers nearly blew all of a 18-point, second-half lead, however pulled away down the stretch and claimed a 109-100 victory that despatched them to the Jap Convention semifinals for the sixth time within the final 9 years. It was a reasonably beautiful end result, although perhaps not for the group that pulled it off.
“We’ve had this bizarre swag about us all yr,” Tyrese Maxey stated. “This confidence in that we all know who we may be, and we all know who’re are.”
Joel Embiid led Philadelphia with 34 factors, 12 rebounds and 6 assists, whereas Maxey added 30, 11 and 7. The Celtics have been with out Jayson Tatum (left knee stiffness) and simply couldn’t recover from the hump after reducing that 18-point deficit down to 1 with lower than 4 minutes left.
Listed below are some notes, numbers and movie as street groups improved to 10-7 in Recreation 7s during the last six years:
1. Maxey closes the take care of a burst of velocity
With a bit greater than two minutes left, the 2 groups had mixed to attain simply two factors on their final eight possessions, and people two factors got here through a loose-ball foul. The defenses have been stout and the jumpers weren’t falling.
The Sixers had principally been working their offense by Embiid, however after Payton Pritchard missed a wide-open 3-pointer that may have given the Celtics the lead, Maxey introduced the ball up the ground. Embiid was being defended by Jaylen Brown, however he headed to the correct nook and known as for Kelly Oubre Jr. (defended by Neemias Queta) to set a ball-screen for Maxey.
Oubre approached slowly after which flipped the display on Derrick White. Queta had one foot past the 3-point line, excessive sufficient to maintain Maxey from getting into a snug jumper. But it surely was too excessive to maintain Maxey in entrance of him. The Sixers’ level guard hit the fuel pedal, received a half step on Queta after which sliced in entrance of him for a reverse layup that put the Sixers up three with precisely two minutes left:
On the very subsequent possession, the Sixers ran the identical motion. This time, White slid underneath the preliminary display and lower Maxey off. So he flipped the ball to Oubre and adopted for a hand-off, going proper. Once more, Queta was up close to the 3-point line. And once more, Maxey beat him to the basket, squeezing previous two assist defenders:
Queta was the defensive choice at heart for the Celtics, whereas White was an All-Protection candidate. And Maxey beat them each for the 2 greatest buckets of the sequence.
Over the seven video games, the man Queta was guarding set 90 ball-screens for Maxey, the second most for any ball-handler-screener-defender mixture within the playoffs by Saturday. That motion wasn’t significantly fruitful for the Sixers, who scored simply 0.83 factors per possession when it led on to a shot, turnover or journey to the road.
However in crunch time of Recreation 7, Maxey nonetheless had his burst, whereas others on the ground have been dragging. He scored his 30 factors on an environment friendly 11-for-18 capturing, and he’s going to be an issue for the Knicks within the subsequent spherical.
2. Celtics attempt the whole lot in opposition to Embiid
Embiid had it going from the beginning of Recreation 7, scoring 10 factors and dispensing 5 assists within the first quarter. He hit a few pick-and-pop jumpers, he made good reads in opposition to double-teams, and he beat Queta one-on-one.
Embiid performed the ultimate 4 video games of the sequence, and the Celtics simply by no means discovered an answer for guarding him. They tried Hugo Gonzales, who had barely performed by the primary six video games. They tried guarding him with Brown, who didn’t have a lot of an opportunity. And finally, the Celtics performed some zone.
Perhaps a bit worn down, Embiid shot simply 2-for-9 within the fourth quarter. However with the hardly holding onto their lead, all seven of his fourth quarter factors have been enormous. He drained a face-up jumper over Queta and a pick-and-pop 3 when Brown selected to not shut out on him. And eventually, he drew a foul on Brown within the publish and put the Sixers up three with a pair of free throws with 4:45 left.
This wasn’t Embiid’s highest-scoring playoff sequence (28.0 factors per recreation) and it was removed from his best (true capturing share of 53.7%). He struggled to defend the pick-and-roll for many of the final 4 video games, and he appeared to endure a knee harm down the stretch on Saturday.
However the Sixers have been 3-1 when he performed and the league’s fourth-ranked protection couldn’t determine the best way to guard him.
3. Celtics’ gamble with beginning lineup backfires
With Tatum out, the Celtics clearly needed to make a change to their beginning lineup. They didn’t must make three adjustments, however that’s what they did. Out have been Tatum, Queta and Sam Hauser. And of their place have been Baylor Scheierman, Luka Garza and Ron Harper Jr., who have been ninth, tenth and eleventh on the Celtics in complete minutes by the primary six video games.
That five-man group had not performed collectively all season. Beginning them in Recreation 7 was definitely a raffle … and it didn’t repay.
The Celtics went scoreless on their first six possessions of the sport, and so they have been down 11-4 after they made their first substitution. That was Payton Pritchard for Harper, who by no means returned after logging simply 4:02. Garza performed greater than that, however not a lot, and the Celtics have been in some way outscored by 15 factors in his eight minutes and 38 seconds of motion.
Scheierman, Harper and Garza mixed to shoot 0-for-7.
4. Poor jump-shooting dooms Celtics’ shock season
The Celtics have been one of many league’s greatest surprises this season. With Tatum having suffered an Achilles tear in final yr’s playoffs and with 4 different rotation guys leaving final Summer season, this definitely seemed like a spot yr.
As an alternative they have been among the finest groups within the league as soon as once more, rating within the high 5 on each ends of the ground for an unprecedented fourth straight season. And after they have been up 3-1 on this sequence (with different high seeds struggling), they in all probability seemed just like the favorites to succeed in the Finals out of the Jap Convention. With an opportunity to shut out the sequence in Recreation 5, they have been up 13 within the second half.
However out of the blue, the shock season got here to an finish, and the Celtics failed to succeed in the convention semifinals for simply the second time within the final 10 years.
This was the jump-shootingest workforce within the league, with solely 41% of the Celtics’ regular-season photographs having come within the paint. That charge was even decrease (36%) in playoffs, and the Celtics simply missed too many jumpers. Over their 4 losses within the sequence, they shot 49-for-179 (27.4%) from 3-point vary, and so they missed some wide-open seems to be down the stretch of Recreation 7.
It’s a make-or-miss league, however the Celtics could need to be much less depending on soar photographs subsequent season. Tatum will (presumably) be wholesome and expectations will return to earlier ranges.
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John Schuhmann has lined the NBA for greater than 20 years. You may e-mail him right here, discover his archive right here and follow him on Bluesky.