The Celtics have already accepted Game 6. Now, they get one final chance.

PHILADELPHIA — Jaylen Brown gripped the basketball and tapped it against his forehead in frustration.

Hugo Gonzalez, who typically springs off the Celtics bench at the beginning of every timeout, tried to high-five Brown with his usual, 20-year-old jubilance.

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But, as Gonzalez’s hand slapped Brown’s, the Celtics star looked stunned, seemingly still processing a performance that was far below the high standard he set in his All-NBA-caliber season.

In Brown’s 28 minutes on the floor in Game 6, the Celtics were outscored by 24 points. He made just 7 of 17 field goal attempts and turned the ball over five times (two of which came off of offensive fouls).

The result was a 106-93 Celtics loss.

Brown, alongside the rest of the Celtics starters, checked out of the game with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter.

He then watched a Celtics bench unit — headlined by Payton Pritchard, Jordan Walsh, Baylor Scheierman, Ron Harper Jr., and Luka Garza — play at a pace, and with a fervor the Celtics couldn’t muster throughout the first three quarters.

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“They just played harder,” Brown said afterwards. “That group came out — they were able to cut into the league because they played harder. The group before that, we didn’t play hard enough.”

The bench mob shed 9 points off the deficit, but it wasn’t enough.

The Celtics’ season will depend on a win-or-go-home Game 7 at TD Garden.

How the Celtics reacted to a Game 6 defeat

When I entered the Celtics’ locker room on Thursday night, I was expecting to see a grieving locker room, one cognizant that they had squandered a 3-1 lead, one that knew that the tides had completely turned.

But, while the visiting locker room was not a jovial place, it also wasn’t defeated.

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Jaylen Brown, Sam Hauser, and Payton Pritchard stood in the corner in towels, discussing what went wrong and how they could fix it in the next 48 hours.

That conversation went on to include Baylor Scheierman.

“Game 7,” Brown said to the trio. “We need every rebound.”

Then, about 20 minutes later, at the podium, Brown was calm.

Multiple times, he acknowledged he…

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Publish date : 2026-05-01 07:29:00

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