BOSTON — Allen Iverson ain’t walking through that door.
Yet somehow, someway, the Philadelphia 76ers had the answer on Tuesday night in Boston.
After getting run out of the building by the Celtics in Sunday’s playoff opener, Philly responded with a convincing 111-97 victory of its own back at TD Garden to even the first round series up at one game apiece.
As good as the Sixers played, this one falls more on Boston. The Celtics lacked the necessary energy, hustle and physicality needed to win at this level, relying far too much on their talent to win out. The live and die by the three mentality reared its ugly head, and ultimately cost them in a big way.
Sound familiar?
This is nothing new for Boston. Time and time again over the past decade — yes, even during their 2024 championship run — the Celtics have sprinkled in their fair share of inexplicable letdowns, allowing inferior opponents to gain real belief that they can actually win the series.
That’s a slippery slope, a dangerous game to play.
Just as it did on Tuesday night, Boston tends to revert back to “hero ball” like tendencies on offense, particularly in crunch time or when trailing. With guys like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown on their roster, the C’s can sometimes get away with that head-scratching strategy, but more often than not it blows up in their face.
Boston fired a whopping 50 triples on Tuesday — many of which came via the pull-up variety — knocking down just 13 of them (26 percent). Tatum and Sam Hauser were both 2-for-8 from deep, Derrick White was 2-10 and Payton Pritchard 0-4.
An early fourth quarter flurry allowed the Celtics to climb within two (91-89) with just 6:25 to play. But on the back of their own 3-point shooting, the Sixers responded with a swift 11-0 run to all but seal the deal.
Many of Boston’s trifectas were contested, while Philly found a way to generate numerous open looks and shot them with confidence.
Philly head coach Nick Nurse — who led the Raptors to a title in 2019 — admitted after the Game 1 loss that his team needed to shoot more threes:
“We (have to) generate more threes against this team. We’ve gotta generate them and we’ve gotta take them — and obviously we’re gonna have to make some,” said Nurse.
Well, Philly not only launched 39 treys in Tuesday’s win, but canned 19 of them for an efficient 49 percent clip. You knew things were going the Sixers’ way when big man Andre Drummond — who’s certainly not known for his shooting prowess — drilled a corner 3-ball early in the second quarter to tie things up at 37-all at the time.
Rookie V.J. Edgecombe stole the show overall, passing Magic Johnson as the youngest player ever to total 30 points and 10 rebounds in a playoff game. He made six of his 10 3-point attempts, exploding for 16 points in the second quarter alone to get his team off and running.
All-star guard Tyrese Maxey was uber effective late, too, finishing with five made threes and 29 total points to go with nine dimes.
Philly was the more intelligent, harder playing team on Tuesday; they wanted it more. That can’t be the case again as the series shifts to the City of Brotherly Love, and Embiid perhaps making his return to action.
Do I think Boston will choke this first round matchup away after one home loss? No.
But they aren’t making it any easier on themselves and Game 3 on the road Thursday evening now becomes a must win.