With just below 9 minutes to play, the Celtics’ lead – which was 14 factors simply minutes earlier – was down to 2. Cam Payne and Tobias Harris hit consecutive triples, and Joe Mazzulla referred to as for a timeout.
For a second, it appeared prefer it might be a kind of nights. The Celtics struggled from downtown, hitting a season-low 5 three-pointers on 22 makes an attempt. Tyrese Maxey was going off, scoring 30 factors via three quarters. And, the winners of 8 video games in a row, Boston was in all probability due for a loss anyhow.
However then, in a five-minute span from 7:55 to 2:36 left within the fourth, the Celtics launched into a dominant 16-0 run, and the exact same sport that beforehand felt destined for a clutch-time end grew to become a blowout.
Jayson Tatum, who began the sport gradual, completed the fourth quarter with 15 factors, going 4-8 from the sphere and 7-7 from the road. He ended the sport with one other near-triple double: 29 factors, 11 rebounds, and eight assists.
Jaylen Brown, who attacked the rim relentlessly all night time, completed with 31 factors on 11-14 taking pictures. Kristaps Porzingis scored 23 factors and went an ideal 12-12 from the road. And the defensive-minded backcourt of Derrick White and Jrue Vacation — regardless of solely combining for 14 shot makes an attempt — added 13 rebounds, 10 assists, 3 steals, and 5 blocks.
The story of the night time was that the 76ers took away the three-ball. On common, Boston leads the league in 16.1 made threes on 42.3 makes an attempt per sport. In flip, the Celtics attacked the basket and completed 34-37 from the road, demonstrating that opposite to widespread perception, the highest offense within the NBA is, the truth is, not solely reliant on three-pointers.
“This sport was in all probability considered one of our greatest video games of the 12 months, from the standpoint of we had been in a position to win differently,” Joe Mazzulla mentioned in his postgame presser. “This sport confirmed a template of how groups are going to protect us, and it offers us one other factor to apply. I believed our guys did an amazing job.”
Joe Mazzulla loved tonight:
“This sport was in all probability considered one of our greatest video games of the 12 months from the standpoint of we had been in a position to win differently. This sport confirmed a template of how groups are going to protect us and it offers us one other factor to apply.”
(By way of @CelticsCLNS) pic.twitter.com/6IWw2VxpmH
— Noa Dalzell (@NoaDalzellNBA) February 28, 2024
Mazzulla, who’s made it a degree to emphasise the intrinsic connection between offense and protection this season, mentioned that the Celtics tightened their offense within the second half after struggling a bit within the first. In consequence, they had been in a position to maintain Philadelphia to only 99 factors.
“With the intention to be an amazing defensive workforce, it’s a must to be actually good on offense,” Mazzulla mentioned. “I simply thought we had been unorganized a bit of bit on the offensive finish, received some empty possessions, received some turnovers. Within the second half, we did an amazing job of attending to our spots, physicality in our drives, and we managed the shot margin, with our one shot protection and our capability to get to the free-throw line.”
Jaylen Brown – who has had three consecutive first halves with at the very least 18 factors – took simply two three-pointers towards Philadelphia, and after the sport, he famous that the low determine was not an accident.
“Part of my job, my accountability is to get to the paint, to break down the protection, to verify we’re getting open seems to be,” Brown mentioned. “Generally I move up threes with the intention to attempt to get a paint contact as a result of we want a bit of bit extra of these to assist our three-point taking pictures much more.”
Joe Mazzulla praised Brown’s efficiency: “He’s simply at all times in assault mode. I really like what Jaylen’s doing. I really like the work he’s placing in, I really like the poise that he’s enjoying with on the offensive finish. I really like the best way he’s getting totally different baskets, whether or not it’s dealing with, whether or not it’s in transition, the poise he’s enjoying with within the publish. He’s actually studying the sport, and benefiting from it.”
The win means the Celtics’ lead within the Japanese Convention is as much as 7.5 video games. It’ll take one thing drastic for Boston to finish up with a seed decrease than #1, however Jayson Tatum mentioned the workforce isn’t paying too shut consideration to the standings.
“We don’t speak about it a lot, we actually simply attempt to get higher each single day. Sounds cliche, sounds boring,” Tatum mentioned. “Perhaps final 12 months, we rushed or regarded previous opponents and we had been simply able to get to the playoffs, however this 12 months we’ve actually taken it someday at a time.”
As a substitute, they’re taking a look at every sport as a possibility to get higher. Mazzulla mentioned final night time gave them new materials to be taught from – on this occasion, they labored to execute offensively towards a protection intent on taking away the three: “It simply offers us one thing to check, offers us one thing to work on, and grateful we had been in a position to play that sport.”
