{"id":715756,"date":"2026-04-22T09:51:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T09:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/715756\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T09:51:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T09:51:29","slug":"joe-mazzulla-saw-it-coming-before-game-2-now-celtics-sixers-is-a-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/715756\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Mazzulla saw it coming before Game 2. Now Celtics-Sixers is a series"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOSTON \u2014 Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla knew the Sixers were destined to turn things around as soon as Game 2 got underway at TD Garden on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

He called it before the opening tip.<\/p>\n

\u201cTonight is going to be a much more difficult challenge,\u201d Mazzulla said pregame. \u201cI expect a better version of the Sixers, and we have to play better as well. Every game, series takes on a life of its own. You don\u2019t have control over that. You just gotta control how you play, how you execute, and how you move on from each timeout to timeout, each run to run, each game to game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Philadelphia, without Joel Embiid, laid an egg in Game 1. Coach Nick Nurse admitted the Sixers played \u201cout of character\u201d before falling in a 32-point blowout loss to the Celtics on Sunday. That made the message heading into Tuesday night simple: \u201cBe better,\u201d Nurse said. The difference between falling into an 0-2 deficit or returning to Philadelphia tied 1-1 was clear, and the Sixers operated mindful of that urgency throughout Boston\u2019s 111-97 loss<\/a> in Game 2.<\/p>\n

Sixers guards Tyrese Maxey and V.J. Edgecombe combined to score 59 points, knocking down 11 of Philadelphia\u2019s 19 3-pointers \u2014 after combining for 34 points in Game 1. Maxey got going early with 10 points in the first quarter, while Edgecombe found his rhythm with a 16-point second quarter.<\/p>\n

\"BOSTON,<\/a><\/p>\n

BOSTON, MA – APRIL 21: Vj Edgecombe #77 of the Philadelphia 76ers and Tyrese Maxey #0 of the Philadelphia 76ers react in the second quarter of a game against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden on April 21, 2026 in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Adam Glanzman\/Getty Images) Getty Images<\/p>\n

For the Celtics, the shooting woes didn\u2019t improve. Only Sam Hauser knocked down multiple 3-pointers by halftime, going 2-of-5 from deep, while Boston\u2019s missed opportunities carried into the second half. That put added pressure on the defense to contain Maxey and Edgecombe for as long as possible while the offense tried to find its rhythm \u2014 but that breakthrough never came.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou lose a quarter by 11 (points), that\u2019s tough to come back from in a playoff game,\u201d Mazzulla said.<\/p>\n

The same Celtics team that led the league in fewest turnovers during the regular season (12.4 per game) committed 13 at home to Philadelphia\u2019s nine.<\/p>\n

Jaylen Brown (36 points) and Jayson Tatum (19 points) were the only Celtics to score in double figures. The next leading scorer, Nikola Vu\u010devi\u0107, provided nine points off the bench and was a minus-7 in over 18 minutes on the floor. Consistency was the biggest struggle for Boston. Even when they cut Philadelphia\u2019s lead down to two points with over 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Celtics couldn\u2019t add the finishing touch to ever gain control and take a second-half lead.<\/p>\n

Instead, the Sixers closed out Game 2 on a 20-8 run, forcing Mazzulla to unload the bench and remove the starters for the final 1:52.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s obviously things that we\u2019ll do differently next game \u2014 be ready to do next game,\u201d Mazzulla said. \u201cBut at the same time, we have to be aware of what\u2019s on the other side of that. They\u2019re a good team, and they put a ton of pressure on those things, and you kind of saw some of that tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sixers shot 34.9 percent from three in the regular season, ranking 23rd in the NBA. Their 12.3 made threes per game ranked 22nd, and Tuesday night\u2019s 19 triples (on 48.7 percent shooting) were matched only three times all season.<\/p>\n

Boston finished the loss shooting 36.4 percent from the field and 26 percent from three, hoisting 50 attempts from deep. In the regular season, they went 7-12 in games where they shot below 30 percent from beyond the arc, and it again helped the opposition \u2014 this time, Philadelphia \u2014 pull away with minimal resistance.<\/p>\n

Rarely had the Celtics found themselves needing to self-reflect, but each time they did before Tuesday night, Brown was the first to speak up. That remained the case after the team\u2019s first postseason hiccup.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just thought they outcompeted us tonight,\u201d Brown said. \u201cI think our intensity level could\u2019ve been better. Defensively, we could\u2019ve been better. We died on some screens. We just gotta be better. It\u2019s the playoffs. They got ball players over there, and they came to play. And any given night, you can lose a game if you don\u2019t come out with the right mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tatum, after converting only two of eight 3-point attempts and committing three turnovers, still sounded composed. He pointed to his experience \u2014 his ninth trip to the playoffs \u2014 noting that losing home-court advantage was nothing new. Last year in the semifinals against the Knicks, after dropping the first two games at home, Tatum and the Celtics bounced back at Madison Square Garden. And this past season, the team went 20\u20136 in games following a loss.<\/p>\n

That track record reinforced his confidence with the series heading to Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be better next game,\u201d Tatum assured.<\/p>\n

Tatum also backed sharpshooters Derrick White and Payton Pritchard, who combined to go 2-of-14 from three (14.2 percent) in Game 2. White (eight points) and Pritchard (four points) each had rare off nights, muting two of Boston\u2019s most reliable offensive weapons. Still, given the looks Boston generated, Tatum isn\u2019t concerned about their shooting slumps carrying over into Game 3 on Friday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of open looks and looks that they normally make,\u201d Tatum said of White and Pritchard. \u201cI don\u2019t know how many they made this year, but I remember last year both those guys made 250-plus threes. So they\u2019re great shooters. Sometimes the ball just don\u2019t go in, but we never lose confidence in them. They\u2019ll be ready, we\u2019ll all be ready Friday.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOSTON \u2014 Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla knew the Sixers were destined to turn things around as soon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":715757,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3769],"tags":[679,7,21388,6,678,207,3817],"class_list":{"0":"post-715756","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-76ers","8":"tag-76ers","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-celtics-news","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-philadelphia","13":"tag-philadelphia-76ers","14":"tag-philadelphia76ers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116447754727453962","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=715756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/715757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}