"We Want Boston!" - As If Things Aren't Bad Enough For The Sixers, Getting Trolled By Celtics Fans In Your Own Arena Is Tough To Come Back From

Mitchell Leff. Getty Images.

Before we begin, let me state the obvious.

The race is the first to 4, not the first to 3. 

Yes, I know the Celts are 32-0 all time when taking a 3-1 series lead, I know the Jays only have 2 playoff losses in their entire careers when they are able to get at least 3 wins in a series, I know all of that. But what I also know is that the NBA playoffs are fragile. The second you look ahead or disrespect your opponent, the Basketball Gods can make you pay for it. We can truly celebrate when they secure their 4th win, but there is still more work to be done.

Having said that, I'm also a big proponent of taking a minute and appreciating what you're watching. What we just saw the Celts do, go into Philly and completely dominate the Sixers in every facet of basketball, was special. There's a reason no team in the NBA has more regular or postseason road wins than the Boston Celtics under Joe Mazulla. You are looking at true Road Dogs, a group that gets better the more adversity they face. Where other teams tend to struggle (just look around the East right now), the Celts thrive. It's in their DNA. They don't care where the game takes place, check ball. 

You are currently watching one of the best road-performing basketball teams in all of NBA history. That's not me being hyperbolic either. That is the truth

When it comes to the Sixers, they know this as well as anyone. Since 2018, the Celtics are 7-2 in games being playing in Philly during the playoffs. A 77% winning percentage on the road against a single opponent that spans 8 years is pretty nuts, especially when you remember this happened with a wide variety of rosters. Every year, I am told that THIS is actually the best version of The Process the Sixers have ever had, yet the results remain the same. Interesting!

As I said last night, championship teams do not play with their food. When they are presented with an opportunity to step on their opponent's neck and truly take control of a series, they do it. We just saw OKC do it, we saw SA do it, and now after last night's belt to ass performance, the Celtics have done it. 

The final step comes in Game 5, but before we get to worrying about that, let's first talk about what we witnessed on Sunday night.

The Good

- Usually this section starts with a player performance, but after going over everything, I feel as though we need to begin with this moment of Celtics fans in attendance trolling both the Sixers and their fans so loudly that you could hear it on the broadcast

I'm not sure what's worse. Being down 3-1, getting whooped for the second time in the series by 30+, or having the opposing fanbase in your arena troll you so loudly with the same exact chant Sixers fans tried to use ahead of the series while up by 30+ points. How do you even come back from that? That may as well have been TD Garden with how the Celts played and the crowd reacted. That was a Philly home game? 

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This is why, when we first heard the Sixers fans bust out that chant, I think every single Celtic fan was overcome with joy. We knew what that meant and what was coming. These fanbases will never learn. Stop asking for the Celtics, because you will not like what happens when you get them and they decide not to miss every shot they take. That's really your only hope at this point. Pray the shooting variance Gods give you a sliver of hope, because outside of that? If the Celts play to their level, you're going to be in a world of pain.  

Having dealt with Sixers fans for nearly a decade now, part of me thinks there's a decent amount of them that have a humiliation kink. The way they talk about Tatum because he's caused them generational trauma, every matchup it's always the same act. Deep down, you knew their hearts weren't in those "We Want Boston" chants, but they couldn't help themselves. So to get it thrown back in your face like that on your own floor? Woof. That's tough. 

- At some point it'll have to be addressed that outside of perhaps one or two guys, Jayson Tatum has been the best all around player of these NBA players. Sorry if this offends, but it's the truth. The offense, defense, playmaking, rebounding, all of it has been so beyond what any of our brains could have expected, it's truly unbelievable

Tatum's 2nd half was one of the most complete performances we've seen him have in the postseason (25/2/7 on 71% TS%), and sometimes you have to pinch yourself as a reminder that this is a player who tore his achilles 11 months ago. I'm sorry, but this should not be possible

How good was Tatum in these two games in Philly?

27.5/9.0/6.0 on 51/52% with 5 3PM and a 71.8% TS%

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Guess what? He's also 3rd in potential assists this postseason (15 per game), trailing only Cade and SGA, who are point guards. The minutes, the touches, the production, ALL of it looks exactly like pre-injury Tatum. The problem the Sixers are now facing is that they know they have to bail out and send everything to Tatum so he doesn't kill them, only they forget that he's the best passing wing since LeBron, so he can kill you via the pass as well. Then, when you give him space to shoot/get his own offense going, good luck. If his 3 ball is going to be this locked in? There is no defending Jayson Tatum.

We knew entering the series that the Sixers were going to have a Jays problem, and through 4 games I think it's safe to say they have a Jays problem. Can't guard them one on one and if you send extra help, that kills you as well. I'm not sure what the answer is outside of just praying they miss every shot they take, because make no mistake about it, both Tatum and Brown dropped their nuts on the Sixers during both of these road wins.

- One thing we've learned over the years when it comes to Payon Pritchard is that he's a 16 game player. When he's aggressive, everything about his game and the Celtics ceiling changes. With all the attention the Jays are going to get in this playoff run, it's imperitive that Payton Pritchard remains aggressive and makes defense spay for giving him so many clean looks. I can't think of a worse defensive strategy than giving Payton Pritchard clean looks, because this is what happens

How important is it for Pritchard to remain aggressive? I guess that depends

45-15 feels like a pretty good record to me!

The beauty in Pritchard's performance was the fact that it was so much more than just wide open C&S 3s. He cooked the entire Sixers roster at all three levels. Yes, the threes were massive, but we also saw Pritchard put the ball on the floor and get into the paint, we saw him use his speed and body positioning to blow past defenders and finish at the rim, and he did all of this while committing ZERO turnovers. 

In these playoff games on the road, your bench players can absolutely help you steal a game. We just saw it with the Sixers in Game 2, and the same thing happened for the Celts in Games 3 & 4. I would argue the Celts bench was the primary reason the Celts got off to such a good start and were able to build that early lead. Pritchard, Garza, Walsh, Baylor etc all came in and did exactly what they've been doing all season long. They found ways to impact winning.

When it comes to Pritchard, we're seeing something serious when it comes to his development. I remember when fans told me he never played well in big games against good teams. OK. Sure thing pal. Now that he's able to mix elite production at all three levels and he does it all with a God like handle, I'm not sure how you defend Pritchard when his shotmaking is at this level. 

- There will be a lot made about the Celts offense these last few games, but in my opinion we should not be overlooking their defensive production that has come in all three of their wins

Game 1: 91 points 

Game 3: 100 points 

Game 4: 96 points

Has the approach changed? Not really. The Celts are still playing drop, just like they did in Game 2. The difference? Their execution has been so much better on that end of the floor in these wins. It's why I found it so annoying that all you heard after Game 2 was "adjustments". People were confusing adjustments with execution just like they do whenever the Celts lose a game. Sometimes you just play like shit, it happens.

But when they're locked in like this and holding their opponent to under 100 points? They are nearly impossible to beat. Shotmaking can come and go over the course of a game, so what has to remain consistent is your defensive execution. That's how you stay attached during times when you can't hit a shot to save your life, and it's something they didn't do in Game 2, but have done in Games 1, 3, and 4. That doesn't just start with forcing misses, it also means dominating the glass.

The Celtics won the rebounding battle in this game 51-30. The Sixers finished with just 6 OREB / 9 2nd chance points. They were much better in transition, mostly because they stopped turning it over and missing all their shots. When you hold your opponent to 23 points or under in 3 of the 4 quarters, that tells me you were locked in defensively and look at what a difference it made.

I mean look at this defensive execution from Jordan Walsh on Maxey. He has this dude IN HELL

In 29 possessions over the last two games, Walsh has held Maxey to just 6 points on 2-7 shooting. He's completely eliminated that threat, and he's a wing who barely plays on this team! Do you understand how insane that is????? The Celtics have an All NBA Defensive wing just chilling on their bench that they can throw out there at any time to remove your best scorer from the game. That, is ridiculous.

- If on one end of the floor you're holding your opponent to under 100, and then on the other end of the floor you're setting an NBA record in playoff 3PM, my guess is that's going to result in an all time ass whooping

128 points, 24-53 from deep, 28 AST to only 12 TOs, please tell me more about how Mazzulla Ball is a stupid way to play or a losing approach. I tend to hear that every time the Celts drop a game in the playoffs, so what gives?

For those keeping track at home, Joe Mazulla is now 38-16 in the playoffs. He's winning at a 54.5 win pace during the hardest part of the NBA calendar. Maybe, just maybe he knows what he's doing! 

The Bad

- While there were parts of his game that I thought were strong (3pt shooting, rebounding), I can't sit here and say it didn't bother me that Jaylen went 5-9 from the FT line while also having 3 TOs, most of which came via offensive fouls. He now has 7 offensive fouls in the playoffs (no one else has more than 4), and I'm not sure if this is just a case of the officials getting baited by flops or they just refuse to allow Jaylen to use his strength, but that's something to monitor moving forward. Either he is going to have to find other ways to generate space, maybe use more of his shoulder or what, but it feels like the officials are trying to crack down on his physicality. We also saw them do it to Tatum as well, but it's been really apparent with Jaylen.

- Speaking of this topic, I did NOT miss the bullshit whistle that Joel Embiid gets. On one end, something like this is not a foul but then you breathe on Embiid and it's a whistle

This is the lack of consistency that is the root of the NBA's officiating problem. What more can Tatum do there? He was aggressive, he played off two feet, he didn't shy away from contact, and he got nothing. Meanwhile, Embiid falls over, and it's a foul. So gross.

- Thank God for the Celts shotmaking, because their defensive execution in the 3rd quarter was pretty terrible. After allowing a 37 point quarter in Game 2 in that loss, the 3rd quarter last night looked almost exactly the same

In most cases, this buries you. Thankfully the Celts had 39 points of their own on 60/55%, but these problematic quarters cannot become the norm. I can live with high 20s or maybe even 30/31 in a quarter. That happens. But now having two instances of allowing 36+ points, that shit can't happen if the Celts move on and start playing better teams. One bad quarter can bury you in the playoffs, we know this.

- We're not out of the woods yet with Derrick White's shooting as some of his misses were brutal, but I will say he finished 2-4 from deep. Where I come from, we call that baby steps. The good news is he was once again MUCH better on defense

so maybe this can be the game that gives him his confidence back when it comes to his jumper. They've been able to survive so far, but it's still a bit of an issue through 4 games.

The Ugly

- I'm at the point where it may be time to tell Neemias Queta that if he continues to foul 94 feet away from the basket, it's a $50,000 fine. I get there are going to be fouls at the rim or guarding Embiid, that's normal. But these bullshit fouls 94 feet from his own basket because he tries to reach in after a Sixers rebound? That's the shit he has to cut out. He's way too important to be giving away free fouls like that. It puts more pressureon Vuc and Garza, and takes one of the Celts best rim protectors off the floor, for what? For doing something stupid that had no chance of being anything other than a foul?

This is where Queta needs to be smart. These fouls are how he gets into trouble and is forced to be pulled from the game. If you remove the 94 feet fouls, things are very different in terms of the rotation. It's not really sustainable if he can only play the first 2 minutes of a game and is around 13-14 minutes a night. It felt like he had gotten so much better in terms of his fouls during the year, and this series he's completely reverted back to committing very bad fouls. Just be smart, and you'll be able to stay on the floor.

- It's mildly annoying that a very fake Sixers magnet ball game in Game 2 is the only reason this isn't a sweep. Shockingly, a bad 3pt shooting team went back to being bad at shooting 3PM. Who could have possibly seen this coming…..

So here we go. The Celts aare now presented with the opportunity to close this series out, and all it requires is that they don't troll on their home floor for the second time this series. When given a chance to bury a team, you have to bury them. Let all the other series around you go the distance while you handle your business in 5 games. Don't give the Sixers hope, don't leave yourself open for weird shit to happen, just play your game, and this thing and be ready for whatever challenge comes next. I don't care how it looks, just get it done.

3 down, 13 to go.