Everything you need to know about the Celtics Game 5 loss to the Sixers, with BSJ insight and analysis.
IN A NUTSHELL
Jaylen Brown started strong but Jayson Tatum did not. The Sixers got 11 each from Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey to take a 7-point first-quarter lead. The lead grew to 15 in a foul-filled second quarter where Joel Embiid shot 8 of Philly’s 10 free throws and Boston went to the line 18 times. Boston cut the lead to 9 at the half, but they had nothing out of the break but missed 3-pointers and the lead got up to 18 and then 21. The bench came in and made it interesting for a hot second, but all that ended up being was a cosmetic difference on the scoreboard.
HEADLINES
Ice cold shooting: They shot 31.6%, and that's with the garbage time crew hitting a few shots. The offense couldn't get anything going for any sustained stretch. There was one real run by the Celtics in this game.
“Definitely get more organized, maintain our spacing,” Brown said about fixing the offense. “I feel like we got kind of the same looks over and over again. We got a lot of open looks and we didn't make shots tonight. But I think that we can be better and I think that we will be better.”
There were a ton of open misses in this game. A ton.
Defensive issues: Early on, the Celtics couldn't stop Philly from dominating the offensive glass. Then they just kept hacking the Sixers, who shot 27 free throws in the game. And then Tyrese Maxey went off for 30, and Danuel House torched them with 10 off the bench.
“We got to be able to get stops and guard a lot better than we did tonight,” Brown said. “It just seemed like we couldn't get a stop tonight.”
Lack of focus: All that stuff amounted to a lack of focus. The Celtics flat-out, put up a stinker.
“Everything went wrong. They made every right play,” Smart said. “They made every hustle play. Everything went wrong for us that can go wrong.”
How does that happen in a Game 5? Great question. I’m at a loss as well.
They've been here before: “What happened tonight is what happened. just gotta get ready and get our rest and watch some film and learn from it,” Tatum said. “You can’t change what happened. It stings for sure, but it’s 3-2 and it’s the first to four. There’s no sense in being sad or putting your head down because that’s not going to do anything for next game.”
Are you angered by that Tatum quote? Does he seem too cocky or even blah about the biggest game of the season?
Well, that last quote is actually from a year ago, May 11, 2022, after the Celtics choked away a Game 5 here at home against Milwaukee and then had to win two straight to get to the Conference Finals.
So if you heard Tatum postgame and you think he’s being too casual, it’s just because that's how he is. He’s just a casual dude when it comes to this stuff. Hopefully he has a similarly huge Game 6 and the Celtics can finish this series off.
TURNING POINT
The Celtics cut the Sixers' lead to 5 in the second quarter with a 10-2 run. There were two problems with that run.
1: When Doc Rivers took a timeout with Boston down 42-33 at the 8:09 mark. When Tatum grabbed a rebound after three straight stops over 1:17, Boston had only added one point.
2: After Boston got it down to 5, with 5:48 to play, the Sixers responded by getting it back up to 14 at the 1:55 mark. Sure, the Celtics cut it to 9, but that response really set the tone for the rest of this game. Boston had chances, but they never could take advantage of any of them.
ONE (OR FIVE) UP
Payton Pritchard (and the Bus One Boys): Just want to give a shout out to the one lineup that came out with maximum effort in this game, which was the end of the bench. They actually had us talking in press row about whether Joe Mazzulla would sub Tatum back in.
TWO IN THE MIDDLE:
Jaylen Brown: For a while, he was Boston’s most effective player and everyone was wondering how long it would take them to actually go to him down the stretch. He got his opportunity and went 3-8 from the free-throw line. Boston, a typically good shooting team from the line, shot 73.5%.
Jayson Tatum: Another rough first half, even though he went 8-9 from the line later in the half. He was 8-9 from the line in the first half and had 15 points but he was a -14 and he was 1-6 from deep. He ended up with a respectable 36 point, 10 rebound, 5 assist line, but man that felt empty.
FIVE DOWN
Al Horford: Nightmare night for Horford who was aggressively taking shots in the first half and made none of them, then he stopped shooting. Meanwhile, he couldn't get a single stop defensively.
Marcus Smart: He ended up grifting his way to a bunch of free throws, and hitting 2-5 from 3 is 40%, so that's good, but I found myself asking what he was doing multiple times. He wasn’t getting stops, that's for sure.
Malcolm Brogdon: Maybe he shouldn’t play against James Harden. Just leave him off the floor when Harden is on it, because Harden’s eyes light up against Brogdon.
Grant Williams: He was trying to be physical with Embiid, but he ended up committing a couple of bad fouls. Then he came out of the game.
Robert Williams: I just don’t know what’s happening with him. He was so important to this team’s success and suddenly he’s not playing well, not playing smart, and he’s not the positive force I expected him to be.
TOP PLAYS
TWO TAKES KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER
- Eff around and find out
This game is exactly what happens when you don’t take care of business. The Celtics had opportunities in Games 1 and 4 to get a win, which would have made this at least a 3-1 series, and potentially a sweep.
Instead, the Celtics completely lost all discipline in Game 4 and it cost them dearly. They had a chance to win Game 1 but they let James Harden get way too comfortable because their defense in these playoffs has generally been subpar.
And now here they are.
I just can’t shake Tatum sitting there in Atlanta after Game 4 offering up that this team doesn’t want to get casual and cost themselves games. Everyone has been saying how they’ve learned all these lessons, but now they are sitting on the brink of going home in the second round because those lessons haven't been applied.
They obviously still have a chance to win, but they … again … have made life as hard on themselves as possible.
- They might just surprise us
I was actually having a conversation in the men’s room with another reporter when a fan walked in and said “I’ve never been more confident in a game than this next one.”
And you know what, it would absolutely fit this infuriating team’s pattern.
Let me stop myself and say at this point, anything is possible with this team. They could go to Philly and get ripped apart and it would just be a head-shaking moment to me. But the one thing I’ve said ad nauseam at this point is that Boston hates prosperity and thrives in adversity.
This is the ultimate adversity. Can we actually rule out the possibility of Boston winning two straight again? I don’t think so.
Next up: Game 6 is Thursday night at 7:30.