How rare was what we all watched last night?
What we witnessed was what happens when the Celtics play a complete game for a full 48 minutes.
The one thing we all beg them to do they finally did, and holy shit.
This wasn’t just offensive dominance.
This wasn’t just putting the entire Sixers roster in defensive hell.
Honestly, Game 2 was cathartic for everyone I think.
They can go to levels that others can’t.
They’ve done that all year.
It sounds way too simple, but for this team, it isn’t.
In Game 1, the Sixers punched first.
In Game 2, the Celtics punched first, and second, and third.
As I always say, perspective is important even in the good times.
But let’s worry about that on Friday.
For now, let’s talk about one of the biggest playoff wins many of us have ever seen.
The Good
- I’m at the point with Jaylen Brown where a supermax extension might be an underpayment.
He then forced Harden into a TO, and then finished on the other end.
This was adjustment #1 from Joe, and it worked to perfection.
It was both a flawless plan and even better execution.
In 25 possessions against James Harden, Jaylen Brown allowed just 1 point on 0-4 shooting.
He took that assignment upon himself and shut it down.
Then there’s the offensive side.
He stayed aggressive which was also important.
It took him out of the game and robbed him of his aggressiveness.
That was not the case last night.
This is the beauty of having both of these guys on the roster.
Both can bury a team by themselves when needed.
What do I always say?
It doesn’t matter what you do offensively, if you don’t defend…you die.
It’s that simple.
The Sixers shot 39/20% with 11 TOs.
That’s how you know the defense is locked in.
All that shooting from Game 1?
It was taken away.
Guarding the 3 point line?
The Sixers finished just 6-30 after they could not miss in Game 1.
The Celts stopped with the drop coverage on Harden and it completely fucked him up.
Their defensive execution as an entire group was practically flawless.
That’s pretty fucking good.
It’s one thing to talk about it, and it’s another thing to actually be about it.
The 23 points isn’t the surprising part, and 0 TOs isn’t either.
The best part of this game for me was it looks like Brogdon found his 3 point shot again.
His 23 points came in just 24 minutes.
It was like an avalanche of offense the second he stepped onto the floor.
He’s too strong for the Sixers guards and too quick for their wings.
When Brogdon is on the floor in this series, the Celts have an Ortg of 136.4.
Do you know how insane that is?
Especially in such an important game.
There are three of them.
Let’s talk about Marcus.
Another massive postseason performance from him on both ends.
Defensively, he was once again everywhere.
On James Harden, Smart held him scoreless over 11 possessions on 0-4 shooting.
Against Joel Embiid, Smart checked him on 5 possessions and Embiid didn’t even get a shot off.
After 6 TOs in Game 1, Smart had just 1 in Game 2.
This is the best he’s looked offensively in legitimately his entire career.
Will the haters and losers of which there are still many acknowledge this?
Because they have this weird Anti-Smart agenda where they simply refuse to acknowledge what they see.
This doesn’t mean there haven’t been brutal moments that Smart made mistakes.
But on the whole?
He’s been everything you could have asked for heading into the playoffs and then some.
Then there’s Derrick.
It wasn’t just the makes either, it was the timing of the makes.
They were essentially all big momentum plays.
He’s just shooting.
The different in mindset is so clear when it comes to Derrick’s approach.
We all remember the Finals after Game 1.
He was doing way too much thinking and not enough shooting.
When Joe told the media the Celts needed to take more 3PA, he was clowned for it.
This is what is still so shocking to me.
People STILL do not understand Mazzulla Ball.
It’s not just jacking up threes, it’s taking the right ones and not hesitating.
They took 50 3PA, and nearly all of them came within the flow of the offense.
Then I heard Joe doesn’t know how to make adjustments.
Well, it certainly looked like there were plenty of adjustments last night didn’t it?
So maybe he actually does know what he’s doing?
The best part of course was how he ended his presser.
Nobody talks his shit better than Joe
Now THAT is a mic drop.
What a death stare with those crazy eyes at the end.
I love this man.
- As a fanbase, we can be hard on Grant.
We barely saw him against the Hawks, and when we did Grant found a way to deliver.
That 3P% leads the entire field.
If this is the Grant we’re going to get, he needs to be back in the rotation.
Especially if he’s going to be knocking down his corner threes again.
What I loved about Grant’s night is he stayed within himself.
He didn’t try and do too much.
Hit open 3PA, hustle, defend, and rebound.
If Grant does that, he’ll play.
How about Payton forever staying ready.
The defense was great.
The offense was dominant.
Crazy what can happen when you don’t pass the ball to the other team isn’t it?
Well, with only 6 last night and only 6 PHI OREBs, the shot difference was 92-79.
The 3PA difference was 51-30.
It’s basically that simple.
Stop turning the ball over and other teams cannot hang.
Maybe they’ll finally learn that one day.
I didn’t even know that was possible.
If anything, it makes me more excited for Game 3.
Something tells me he’s going to come back with a vengence.
- This is the NBA’s MVP
So embarrassing.
Not just for Embiid, but the fact that the officials fell for it and called that first flop.
This is the playoffs, what are we doing?
Have some goddamn shame.
I held my breath with every jump.
Boy was that gross.
Just 2-10 (1-8) from the floor, and some of those misses were nowhere close.
Bricks like you read about.
On one hand, he needs to keep shooting.
But man, I need you to make some of these WIDE OPEN looks, especially from the corners.
The reality is, the Sixers came into Boston and did what they had to do.
They got the split.
Whether they lost by 1 or 100 last night, that remains true.
Now is the Celts turn.
Ride this momentum and take Game 3 and the entire vibe of the series changes.
