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The Boston Celtics are collapsing in on themselves, now having dropped back-to-back games against the Philadelphia 76ers. What was supposed to be a quick series for Boston has now turned into a slog, with Philly bouncing back from a 3-1 deficit to force a Game 7.
It’s do-or-die time. No more second chances. The Celtics had several opportunities to close out this series, but now their backs are against the wall, and momentum is not in their favor.
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Boston held a 13-point lead in the third quarter of Game 5, a potential close-out game. It’s been all downhill from there, though. The Sixers turned Boston’s 13-point lead into as much as a 17-point deficit, ultimately stealing the game by 16. So, what changed? Why was Philly able to snatch control of the series?
Well, as my CelticsBlog colleagues have pointed out, from a tactical perspective, Boston is no longer playing Celtics basketball. The root cause of the issue becomes clearer when we look at how Boston’s bench closed out Game 6, but the problem isn’t with the bench.
In Game 6, Joe Mazzulla pulled the starters at the 10:24 mark of the fourth quarter when Boston was facing a 23-point deficit. Many saw this as a waving of the white flag, but I wasn’t so sure.
A lineup of Payton Pritchard, Baylor Scheierman, Ron Harper Jr., Jordan Walsh, and Luka Garza took the floor. Outside of Payton, no one in that lineup had a consistent role this season. They were thrown in to the fire at what almost felt like random stretches of a game, and they all had success in those stretches. They all gave every stint – every possession – their all. That’s what led to Boston’s 56-win season, obviously alongside the winning plays of the starters.
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I had no reason to expect that it would be any different when they took the floor together in the 4th quarter of Game 6. And what do you know? They faced off against Philly’s starters, and shaved off as many as 11 points from the deficit in just over 3 minutes, making it an 88-76 lead for the Sixers with 7:10 left on the clock.
Ultimately, Boston’s bench wasn’t able to take it any further, a 106-93…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/celtics-learn-lesson-bench-095400175.html
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Publish date : 2026-05-02 09:54:00
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