The Celtics Give The Sixers New Life After Playing Like Assholes And Dropping Game 2 As The Series Now Shifts To Philly

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And just like that, the 30 point blowout in Game 1 means absolutely nothing. As good as that performance was, for it to matter it was crucial that the Celts back it up and not drop Game 2. NBA history doesn't lie. Teams that go up 2-0 win around 93% of the time. It was their chance to really put the Sixers on the ropes before things even got back to Philly.

So what did they do? They trolled. They pulled their annual Game 2 shit performance, something that is becoming extremely annoying. 

How did things finish tonight?

Game 2 vs PHI 2026: 19-39 3P

The exact performance the Celtics couldn't have, is the one they ended up having. Absolutely zero defense in the first half of this game, careless turnovers, and an overall inability from the majority of the roster to make a single jump shot. If that felt familiar, it's because this was the exact blueprint for the games they dropped against the Knicks just last year. It was a weird combination of the 2022 NBA Finals mixed with the 2023 Heat mixed with the 2025 Knicks. As you'll remember, the Celtics lost all of those Game 2s and all of those series. 

Call me crazy, but when a team is unconscious from three, perhaps it's not the best idea to keep playing a deep drop coverage. This was 2022 NBA Finals against Steph Curry shit. Big moments in the 4th quarter and we're just letting Tyrese Maxey step into this?

Mind you, this was immediately after the lead was cut to 2 and Jayson Tatum had just missed a 3PA he probably shouldn't have taken. This is one you have to put on Joe. Just WAY too much drop coverage in this game. Possession after possession the Sixers took wide the fuck open 3 after wide the fuck open 3

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You can understand why it would be rather problematic on a night where you aren't getting stops, are giving up 19 3s, to then back all that up with this lack of collective shotmaking

Just a disaster from Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, Vuc and really anyone not named Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. The Jays gave you enough, but what they didn't get was anywhere close to an acceptable level of secondary scoring, especially on a night where the Sixers couldn't miss. That's how you lose playoff games you have no business losing and put series at risk. 

It's simple. The more you fuck around and allow series to live on, the more you open yourself up for chaos and for bad things to happen. It's why you cannot play with your food this time of year. Now, we did see the Celtics lose Game 2 at home twice during the title year to both to MIA and CLE. This is certainly not unfamiliar territory, and we also know the Celts love to make their lives harder on themselves for no apparent reason. They are adversity addicts whether we like it or not.

I'll just say this. Teams to go up 2-1 go on to win the series 80% of the time. In almost every case, whichever team is the first one to win 2 games in a row usually always wins the series. That's why tonight was such a huge blown opportunity for the Celtics and why the Sixers are now in the drivers seat. 

We'll go over the dead body tomorrow. All we can do now is hope they learn their lesson from the way they played tonight, because things are certainly not about to get any easier.