BOSTON -- With 2:42 left in the fourth quarter, Tyrese Maxey drove to the basket and converted an up-and-under and-one. He screamed at the TD Garden crowd, walked directly in front of the Boston Celtics’ bench (still screaming), and past Joe Mazzulla, who stared him down.
It was emblematic of the ugliness that transpired for roughly 39 minutes of action on Tuesday night. After a nine-minute stretch of Boston dominance, the Philadelphia 76ers ran over the Celtics.
VJ Edgecombe caught fire, pouring in 30 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Maxey finished the night with 29 points. The Sixers shot 19-of-39 (48.7 percent) from 3-point range.
A quick glance at the box score would lead to a simple conclusion.
“I think their ability to hit shots,” Neemias Queta said. “They kind of made a lot of the shots they didn’t make [in] the first game. Same thing for us, we missed a lot of shots that we usually like.”
As Philadelphia approached 50 percent shooting from beyond the arc, the Celtics mustered up just 13 makes on 50 attempts (26.0 percent).
There will inevitably be calls for fewer 3-point shots. Those ringings have sounded off like alarms ever since Mazzulla took over as head coach. But Mazzulla always stresses taking the best shot. And Boston got a lot of open threes on Tuesday night.
They just didn’t go in.
It’s less about the number of threes Boston took and more