Boston Celtics
Boston’s Jayson Tatum-less lineup introduced it to a No. 2 seed, however was no match for Philadelphia Saturday.
The Jayson Tatum-less Celtics have been a real Cinderella story within the NBA this season, reaching a No. 2 seed and 50-plus common season wins. However on Saturday evening, in true Cinderella trend, the horse-drawn carriage turned again right into a pumpkin.
It wasn’t a star-based situation both. Jaylen Brown did precisely what he did all season. He scored a team-high 33 points, and added 9 rebounds, 4 assists, and three blocks, displaying up all around the flooring.
Derrick White, whose playoff struggles have been notable heading into Saturday evening, dropped 26 factors and hit 5 3-pointers.
Saturday’s final result was decided by one easy issue: Boston’s lineup was no match for Philadelphia’s.
The 76ers began a dominant large, Joel Embiid, a proficient scoring guard in Tyrese Maxey and a budding rookie in V.J. Edgecombe. Boston’s beginning 5? Brown, White, Ron Harper Jr., Baylor Scheierman, and Luka Garza. A particular mixture that hadn’t even shared any time on the ground earlier than Recreation 7.
No quantity of Jaylen Brown takeover would’ve sufficed on Saturday evening.
To their credit score although, the Celtics made issues attention-grabbing. They erased a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit with a 25-8 run down the stretch, held Philadelphia and not using a subject aim for nearly six straight minutes within the fourth quarter, and had probabilities to tie the sport with beneath two minutes remaining.
However whereas there was loads of battle within the fourth quarter, Boston’s lineup was nonetheless impossibly outmatched. Its latter three starters, Scheierman, Garza, and Harper, didn’t rating a single level. Neemias Queta off the bench was the Celtics’ third main scorer with 17 factors, adopted by Payton Pritchard (13) and Sam Hauser (11). No different Celtics scored.
Should you closed your eyes and pictured the 2025-26 Celtics again in September, Saturday evening might be precisely what it will have seemed like. A complete lot of manufacturing out of Brown and White, a couple of well-timed Pritchard threes, and a good quantity of ugly basketball in between.
However you may’t blame Brad Stevens, Joe Mazzulla, or the Celtics, both. Everybody knew Boston was simply shopping for time to get Tatum again into the lineup. Any likelihood on the postseason would have been welcome if it gave Tatum an opportunity to return again and make a run. And that’s precisely what occurred. Boston was aggressive as soon as Brown and Tatum reunited, and the duo made them a favourite to return out of the Jap Convention.
So, regardless of a disappointing outcome on Saturday, this season as an entire shouldn’t be considered as a disappointment. All season lengthy, Boston’s Tatum-less lineup outperformed expectations. On Saturday evening, they simply occurred to return again all the way down to earth, bumped into a way more proficient unit, and suffered for it.
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