BOSTON — The bonus buzzkill that accompanies any loss by the Boston Celtics, particularly in the playoffs, is the ear-splitting referendum over the value, the purpose, the existence of the 3-point shot.
And here we go again. The Celtics connected on just 11 of 39 3-point attempts in their 113-97 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night at TD Garden, which means this opening-round series that a lot of people thought would last just four games (hello there, me), and then five games (hello there again, me), is now headed back to Philly on Thursday night for Game 6.
But holding two-day discussions over 3-point shots is wasted breath. This is the modern-day NBA. And these are the Joe Mazzulla-coached Boston Celtics. Besides, as Mazzulla calmly put it after the game, “We missed layups too. I don’t think it was necessarily from the 3’s. … we just have to be able to bounce back from that. I think when you have empty possession, empty possession, and at the other end you’re not getting stops, it’s frustrating.”
“Frustrating” is being too kind to a team that turned lethargic and droopy in the third quarter, and then clanky and disorganized in the game’s final minutes.
But tell you what: Rather than break down the game, let’s break down the entire 2026 NBA postseason. Aside from the obvious, which is that the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder rolled the eighth-seeded Phoenix Suns in four straight games, what we have here is a tournament hungering for an upset or two or three. In the East, the eighth-seeded Orlando Magic have a 3-1 lead over the top-seeded Detroit Pistons. The No. 3 New York Knicks went into Game 5 against the No. 6 Atlanta Hawks tied 2-2 Tuesday night, but came out with an easy 126-97 victory. For those hoping for a second-round rematch between the Knicks and Celtics, that’s still in play.
And out in the West, the No. 6 Minnesota Timberwolves have a 3-2 lead over the No. 3 Denver Nuggets.
In other words, the 76ers are simply skating their wing in this topsy-turvy tourney. And now they have Joel Embiid back after missing two weeks due to a health crisis that culminated with an appendectomy. Oh, and he’s not just back. After some inconsistent play in Game 4, he’s back in form. Do the 76ers need Embiid? Embiid, they do. And he scored 33 points in Game 5.
“Give him credit, he played well,” said Jayson Tatum (24 points). “He put a lot of pressure on us, especially on the defensive end. We’ll go back and watch the film and make some adjustments and be ready for Game 6.”
Jaylen Brown (22 points), meanwhile, sounded like a man who had already watched the film and, as such, already has some adjustments in mind.
“Yeah, I feel like he got too many easy baskets,” Brown said. “We need to make him work. It’s just too easy for him, even though we want to trust our guys to guard certain aspects, we have to make it a little tougher.”
That’s fine, but Brown had similar thoughts after rookie VJ Edgecombe scored 30 points in the 76ers’ 111-97 victory in Game 2. Brown ladled out a nice compliment after that one, observing, “… he’s a ballplayer. He’s a rookie, but he can play.” But, Brown said, “I thought Edgecombe was just too comfortable.”
As the Celtics dutifully watch the film in preparation for Game 6, it might serve them well to take a shot at figuring out why the 76ers have won two games in this series on the strength of two players, who, beyond their considerable skills, were very comfortable scoring points against them.
Maybe it’s just something in the spring air. The lesser lights of the NBA are winning playoff games to a degree that’s very NHL-like, only without the hot goaltending. (Though there have been a few goaltending calls.) But the Celtics are certainly doing their part to help the 76ers along. Derrick White hit the second of two free throws about two minutes into the third quarter to give Boston a 13-point lead (63-50), but that’s when it was the Celtics who got too comfortable. As in, they fell asleep. From that point on, they were outscored by the 76ers 63-34.
“There’s a human element,” Tatum said. “We’re not perfect. After each game, a win or a loss, there’s a lot of things to look back on and talk about what we can do better. And tonight’s no different.”
It’s just that in the spring of 2026 in the NBA, everything is different. Teams that shouldn’t advance think they can do just that. And while the 76ers are still down 3-2 in this series, they’ve looked mighty comfortable getting there.
“We just have to have an understanding and perspective,” Mazzulla reasoned. “It wasn’t all bad. We played solid basketball, but then there are things we have to get better at and be more consistent.”
What the Celtics need to understand, and the perspective they need to take into Game 6, is that they aren’t going anywhere unless they can borrow a page out of old-timey muckraking journalism. The need to afflict the comfortable.
