It was hard not to mock the Philadelphia 76ers after they suffered a Game 1 beatdown at the Garden on Sunday afternoon. Here in the Hub of the Hardwood Universe, it was open season on Sixer mockery. Without Joel Embiid, with Tyrese Maxey playing timid ball, the Sixers had no chance against the raging Celtic machine.

So naturally, the Sixers came back to the parquet Tuesday and spanked the sleepy Celts, 111-97, on the strength of 30 points from rookie guard VJ Edgecombe and 29 from superstar Maxey.

“I thought we got great looks. I thought we missed them,” NBA Coach-of-the-Year favorite Joe Mazzulla explained, his team 13 for 50 on threes. “We missed a lot of good shots and they made more shots than us down the stretch. Credit them. They made shots.

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“I thought we played some good offense. We just couldn’t convert offensively.”

So there you go. The Celtics outrebounded the Sixers (50-42) and had more assists (24-18), but simply lost because the Sixers made 19 of 39 threes and the Celtics didn’t.

This is the state of the NBA in the spring of 2026. It’s a make-or-miss league. The old standards of stingy defense, fast-break offenses, 50-50 balls, pick-and-rolls, and protecting the rim no longer apply.

Who needs coaches? Or big arenas? Why not just play these games at Dave and Buster’s?

Jaylen Brown poured in 36 points in Game 2, but his teammates didn’t offer enough support offensively.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff

There were warning signs around the league Monday. The favored Knicks lost at home to the Hawks, as did the estimable Nuggets to the Timberwolves. Mazzulla admitted he watched both games; the Blazers similarly upset the Spurs while his team played Tuesday.

“We expect to see a better version of the Sixers tonight,” he said.

How could they have been worse than they were Sunday when they lost by 32, never held a lead, and never truly competed?

“We got our butts kicked,” Philly coach Nick (good night) Nurse admitted early Tuesday. “It’s not just tweaks and adjustments. We’ve just got to play a lot better in a lot of areas.”

“They just did us easy,” Maxey said after Game 1. “I feel like it was an easy game and that’s not OK. We’ve got to make them more uncomfortable.”

The Sixers did not look improved at the start, when the Celtics bolted to a 26-13 first-quarter lead propelled by a thunderous Jaylen Brown dunk and punctuated when Brown acted out and picked up a technical.

This time, Philly fought back. A 6-point burst by backboard beast Andre Drummond — a Jim Calhoun recruit — gave the visitors a 41-39 lead midway through the second. The Sixers beefed that to 62-54 at intermission. Edgecombe had 20 at the half.

It was time for a Togo Palazzi pep talk (look him up), or maybe a few Red Bulls.

Nope. The Celts cut it to 3 late in the third, but Edgecombe canned a couple of pull-ups and a fadeaway and Philly led, 84-77. We expected a full fury fourth from the Celtics, but that never materialized. They cut Philly’s lead to 91-89 with six minutes left, but Maxey then took over the game, raining pullups and step-backs on the heads of the Green Team.

Tyrese Maxey had plenty to say as he put the game away for Philadelphia in the fourth quarter.Barry Chin/Globe Staff

Jaylen Brown finished with 36 and made 5-of-12 threes. Sam Hauser and Jayson Tatum were both 2 for 8, Derrick White was 2 for 10, and Payton Pritchard 0 for 4 from international waters.

Now, the series has some edge. It’s not Darryl Dawkins shattering a backboard, or Julius Erving choking Larry Bird, or Cedric Maxwell going after a fan in the Spectrum, but it’s 1-1 going to Philadelphia on Friday night. The Sixers have earned more than a little respect from those of us who doubted them.

And what if Embiid returns from his appendectomy?

There will be no four-game sweep, and there’s not much chance of a gentleman’s one either now that the Sixers have won a game in Boston.

Just don’t waste your time worrying about Xs and Os or adjustments.

The Celtics simply need to make more shots.

Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at daniel.shaughnessy@globe.com. Follow him @dan_shaughnessy.