76ers (0-1) at Celtics (1-0) Round 1 Game 2 4/21/26

[ScoobyDoo]

I think the KG, Pierce, Ray Allen team would have had three titles if it were not for Perkins going down in Game 6 of the finals the one year and then Shaq going down that last year with the Achilles. They were absolutely dominating teams with Shaq playing 15-20 minutes off the bench.

In spite of Doc's coaching and the fact that KG, Pierce and Allen were older and banged up when they got together, that team had massive cahones, mental toughness, and physical ferocity. They were getting beaten only by LeBron, Wade and Kobe in their prime teams, not losing to a team like the Philly team we're currently playing.

It's a force of will, line in the sand mentality Tatum and brown have always lacked in my opinion. It's letting Draymond Green walk Tatum back to the bench in Game four of the finals a few years back. That should have been a title that year, we would have gone up 3-1 and out entire team let's Draymond Green walk Tatum back to OUR bench after a timeout is called.

Grow a spine, and kick the crap out of Philly in Game 2 on YOUR court. Not their court. Then, when they're walking off, tell them good luck trying to beat us in your crappy gym in Philly. Control the other team mentally.

Tatum and Brown far often start choking and going ISO hero ball instead of moving it around. Two things happen:

Tatum dribbles around and jacks up some terrible fadeaway two or three point shot.

Brown dribble around and drives into a triple team for a turnover. You can see it coming every time from both of them.

It's this lackadaisical let's go down and jack a up a three - take the easy play. It doesn't work. The hard part is you can see it coming every time. It's usually we're up by 9 or 12 points and we start taking crappy, lazy threes on offensive, or Brown and Tatum start going ISI and the result in both cases are terrible shots and then the next thing you know it's a 3 point or 5 point game and the other team has been let back in.

I've see the movie about 1000 times with these two players as leads.   

You win game two on your court. Then you go to Philly and play game three like it's a single elimination game and go up 3-0. 

I'm not saying they can't win a title this year but my god, be smarter, tougher, nastier, harder working when it matters most, don't constantly go the other way and do the opposite all the time.   

[Atzar]

This kind of chole job isn't an "under Mazzulla" issue, it's been happening the entire Tatum and Brown era. These guys just can't come out with a "step on their throats" mentality after a big win. This game tonight was "easy money", all you had to do was step on Philly early and the switch the pressure over to them.

Tatum and brown teams always make what should be 4 game series, six game series, what should be five or six games series six or seven game serries. They've always made it as hard as possible on themselves as they can. They do not have that fierce killer instinct most great players/teams have. If they did, this game would have turned into a massive brawl with incredibly intensity very early on. You just do not let a team do that - you can't give them life like that - you already have the next two in Philly.

It's truly miserable to watch and it's been happening ever since Brown and Tatum have been here together. If they had a killer instinct they would already have 2-3 titles, not one. It's so disappointing.

I expect them to win game three and the series but it's a miserable process to watch. 

Lose game three in Philly after you have a 2-0 lead. Yeah, maybe, then you stick it to them in game four and go home and close in game five.

Instead Boston likes to do stuff like lost that gimme game 2 in Boston, "because" you know you have to them go to Philly to play two hard games in a hostile area. So then "OK, let's win game three, but then lose game four and then maybe even lose game 5 at him so we can play an elimination game in game six in Philly, then come home and blow them out in game 7, finally.

It's such a miserable, miserable movie to watch and it's been on replay for 8-9 years now.

 

I also been saying this too. We got rid of Irving (and Hayward). We got rid of Smart/Williams. We got rid of Horford. So what now? The complacency still sticks. It has been a Jay mentality thing being complacent. Maybe it's time to trade one Jay away while their value is still high and get another superstar/young stud in return? It's also Joe's problem for not keeping them together. He expects them to figure it out in-game and not halt an opposing team's run. What's he saving those timeouts for?

The old Paul Pierce and KG teams will never let these kind of things slide. They go out to war every single night. They will step on the enemy's throat.

The first thing the Pierce/KG team did was let a crappy 37-win Hawks team take them to 7.  A young Al Horford punked Pierce at the end of G3, had Pierce throwing up gang signs like he was gonna do something about it only to lose the next game too, lol.  Then they went 7 with Lebron in a series where they were actually outscored overall.  Their first road win in the entire playoff run came in the conference finals. 

Won the title that year, btw.

So we need to move off of this idea that former teams had a level of nasty that this team doesn't.  The reality is that basketball teams lose basketball games.  It's not a mental deficiency when it happens.  It's just the game. 

[ScoobyDoo]

Nah, don't need to move off the narrative.

First, this team has a unique way of playing with a malaise once they're up on a team. The team is lead by Tatum and brown; Tatum and Brown need to lead in changing this, along with Mazzulla.

Second, the biggest part of why they constantly let teams back in is because they're in love with jacking up lazy threes even when they're missing them at embarrassing rates. Basketball 1010 from day one when you play and at any level, is if you're shots aren't falling, move the ball, get a good shot for someone else, take it to the hole, get a two point bucket of get fouled. This is a mental discipline thing, and it's a mental toughness issue. Basically they need to "stop" doing the things that are causing them to give games away and "start" doing, more often than not, the things that are required to win games when the momentum is swinging against you.

It's not that they're losing the games necessarily it's the way they're losing them and the reasons why they're losing. If your lead dogs are satisfied with jacking lazy threes when it isn't working, everyone else will be OK with doing the same. It starts and ends with Tatum and Brown on every aspect of everything going on on the court - that's the nature of their position as the leaders.

       

[slamtheking]

Nah, don't need to move off the narrative.

First, this team has a unique way of playing with a malaise once they're up on a team. The team is lead by Tatum and brown; Tatum and Brown need to lead in changing this, along with Mazzulla.

Second, the biggest part of why they constantly let teams back in is because they're in love with jacking up lazy threes even when they're missing them at embarrassing rates. Basketball 1010 from day one when you play and at any level, is if you're shots aren't falling, move the ball, get a good shot for someone else, take it to the hole, get a two point bucket of get fouled. This is a mental discipline thing, and it's a mental toughness issue. Basically they need to "stop" doing the things that are causing them to give games away and "start" doing, more often than not, the things that are required to win games when the momentum is swinging against you.

It's not that they're losing the games necessarily it's the way they're losing them and the reasons why they're losing. If your lead dogs are satisfied with jacking lazy threes when it isn't working, everyone else will be OK with doing the same. It starts and ends with Tatum and Brown on every aspect of everything going on on the court - that's the nature of their position as the leaders.

it's easy to blame them as the faces of the franchise for basically the past decade but the mentality of jacking 3's comes from Brad and Joe.  This is their philosophy because they're numbers guys and believe winning is tied to taking and making as many 3s as possible.  I don't agree with putting all your eggs in that one basket but it's what they coach and the J's have been basically raised in that philosophy since they've been here. 

I don't doubt that if a different coach with a different offensive philosophy was coaching here, the Js would be different offensive players.

[ScoobyDoo]

Agreed on Joe and Brad and their philosophy, but... I think as a player you have to be your own coach on the floor and do what's needed, which requires having the right BBIQ, the discipline and the determination.

It shouldn't take 8-9 years, with or without coaches, to understand that dribbling out the shot clock with basically no one else touching the ball and then jacking up a fade away three in a meaningful moment (Tatum), or dribbling out the shot clock with basically no one else seeing the ball and then dribbling into traffic for a turnover or another very tough shot in a crucial moment (Brown), to understand that shouldn't do that - that's on the player to 'not" be doing that.

The only real time to do that is when the ball swings to you as the safety valve with 5-6 seconds left on the shot clock and you have to make lemonade - being able to do that in that moment is actually valuable, that's why it got swung over to you. But otherwise it shouldn't be the choice. I've seen both Tatum and Brown revert to this when they're up in games or when the games get tight - this is what I'm saying needs to change or they will underachieve more than they succeed IMHO...   

[ScoobyDoo]

And this playing style has been going on for the 8-9 years, it's like a chronic and unsuccessful default that keeps rearing it's ugly head when we're up or when things get really tight.

[Goldstar88]

Nah, don't need to move off the narrative.

First, this team has a unique way of playing with a malaise once they're up on a team. The team is lead by Tatum and brown; Tatum and Brown need to lead in changing this, along with Mazzulla.

Second, the biggest part of why they constantly let teams back in is because they're in love with jacking up lazy threes even when they're missing them at embarrassing rates. Basketball 1010 from day one when you play and at any level, is if you're shots aren't falling, move the ball, get a good shot for someone else, take it to the hole, get a two point bucket of get fouled. This is a mental discipline thing, and it's a mental toughness issue. Basically they need to "stop" doing the things that are causing them to give games away and "start" doing, more often than not, the things that are required to win games when the momentum is swinging against you.

It's not that they're losing the games necessarily it's the way they're losing them and the reasons why they're losing. If your lead dogs are satisfied with jacking lazy threes when it isn't working, everyone else will be OK with doing the same. It starts and ends with Tatum and Brown on every aspect of everything going on on the court - that's the nature of their position as the leaders.

it's easy to blame them as the faces of the franchise for basically the past decade but the mentality of jacking 3's comes from Brad and Joe.  This is their philosophy because they're numbers guys and believe winning is tied to taking and making as many 3s as possible.  I don't agree with putting all your eggs in that one basket but it's what they coach and the J's have been basically raised in that philosophy since they've been here. 

I don't doubt that if a different coach with a different offensive philosophy was coaching here, the Js would be different offensive players.

If this is Brads philosophy, why would he hire a coach that didn?t want the team to play this way. I don?t think he would. Stevens built this team to shoot 3s. He traded for Vooch at the deadline because like KP and Horford, he?s a 5 that can shoot 3s. They won a championship playing this way.

[slamtheking]

Nah, don't need to move off the narrative.

First, this team has a unique way of playing with a malaise once they're up on a team. The team is lead by Tatum and brown; Tatum and Brown need to lead in changing this, along with Mazzulla.

Second, the biggest part of why they constantly let teams back in is because they're in love with jacking up lazy threes even when they're missing them at embarrassing rates. Basketball 1010 from day one when you play and at any level, is if you're shots aren't falling, move the ball, get a good shot for someone else, take it to the hole, get a two point bucket of get fouled. This is a mental discipline thing, and it's a mental toughness issue. Basically they need to "stop" doing the things that are causing them to give games away and "start" doing, more often than not, the things that are required to win games when the momentum is swinging against you.

It's not that they're losing the games necessarily it's the way they're losing them and the reasons why they're losing. If your lead dogs are satisfied with jacking lazy threes when it isn't working, everyone else will be OK with doing the same. It starts and ends with Tatum and Brown on every aspect of everything going on on the court - that's the nature of their position as the leaders.

it's easy to blame them as the faces of the franchise for basically the past decade but the mentality of jacking 3's comes from Brad and Joe.  This is their philosophy because they're numbers guys and believe winning is tied to taking and making as many 3s as possible.  I don't agree with putting all your eggs in that one basket but it's what they coach and the J's have been basically raised in that philosophy since they've been here. 

I don't doubt that if a different coach with a different offensive philosophy was coaching here, the Js would be different offensive players.

If this is Brads philosophy, why would he hire a coach that didn?t want the team to play this way. I don?t think he would. Stevens built this team to shoot 3s. He traded for Vooch at the deadline because like KP and Horford, he?s a 5 that can shoot 3s. They won a championship playing this way.

actually, Brad did hire someone with a different philosophy when he hired Ime but of course he's going to hire someone that follows his philosophy which is why I included Brad in the mindset and didn't just lay it out on Joe.

winning a title in a year where they have the best talent/team isn't exactly a ringing endorsement of the philosophy particularly when there's more years when it's been shown to be a weakness.  last year is a good example - superior talent to the Knicks but the insistence on bombing from 3 cost them the first 2 games which led to losing the series.  Also, you can point to the finals when they lost to GSW by having crappy shooting nights from 3. 

[ozgod]

This kind of chole job isn't an "under Mazzulla" issue, it's been happening the entire Tatum and Brown era. These guys just can't come out with a "step on their throats" mentality after a big win. This game tonight was "easy money", all you had to do was step on Philly early and the switch the pressure over to them.

Tatum and brown teams always make what should be 4 game series, six game series, what should be five or six games series six or seven game serries. They've always made it as hard as possible on themselves as they can. They do not have that fierce killer instinct most great players/teams have. If they did, this game would have turned into a massive brawl with incredibly intensity very early on. You just do not let a team do that - you can't give them life like that - you already have the next two in Philly.

It's truly miserable to watch and it's been happening ever since Brown and Tatum have been here together. If they had a killer instinct they would already have 2-3 titles, not one. It's so disappointing.

I expect them to win game three and the series but it's a miserable process to watch. 

Lose game three in Philly after you have a 2-0 lead. Yeah, maybe, then you stick it to them in game four and go home and close in game five.

Instead Boston likes to do stuff like lost that gimme game 2 in Boston, "because" you know you have to them go to Philly to play two hard games in a hostile area. So then "OK, let's win game three, but then lose game four and then maybe even lose game 5 at him so we can play an elimination game in game six in Philly, then come home and blow them out in game 7, finally.

It's such a miserable, miserable movie to watch and it's been on replay for 8-9 years now.

 

I also been saying this too. We got rid of Irving (and Hayward). We got rid of Smart/Williams. We got rid of Horford. So what now? The complacency still sticks. It has been a Jay mentality thing being complacent. Maybe it's time to trade one Jay away while their value is still high and get another superstar/young stud in return? It's also Joe's problem for not keeping them together. He expects them to figure it out in-game and not halt an opposing team's run. What's he saving those timeouts for?

The old Paul Pierce and KG teams will never let these kind of things slide. They go out to war every single night. They will step on the enemy's throat.

Yeah not true, the kg and pierce era Celtics let series that should never get extended go too long literally constantly and underachieved with only 1 title?.

I was about to respond to this, yes people have rose-colored glasses when it comes to this. The year we won a championship we were pushed by the Hawks and Cavs to 7 games in the 1st and 2nd rounds, including double digit losses in Cleveland. Then in the ECF vs the Pistons we were thrashed by 20 in Game 4.

Every team lays an egg. The question is how they bounce back. That's what I'm interested in seeing with this team and with Joe.

[ozgod]

All said, there's a lot of wrist slitting and overreacting going on, we beat them by 30 in Game 1 because they couldn't make a shot, they recovered after looking like no-hopers and actually made shots. And for all their dominance in the 3s department (50% to 25%, 19 made 3s vs 13 for us) we lost by 12 points. If you asked an unbiased neutral whose position they would prefer to be in I think more often than not they would say Boston.

Yes it's embarrassing but the sky's not falling in (yet) 

[celticinorlando]

All said, there's a lot of wrist slitting and overreacting going on, we beat them by 30 in Game 1 because they couldn't make a shot, they recovered after looking like no-hopers and actually made shots. And for all their dominance in the 3s department (50% to 25%, 19 made 3s vs 13 for us) we lost by 12 points. If you asked an unbiased neutral whose position they would prefer to be in I think more often than not they would say Boston.

Yes it's embarrassing but the sky's not falling in (yet) 

Just think people are tired of Boston coming out flat and lazy in Game 2's at home against inferior teams.

[Donoghus]

All said, there's a lot of wrist slitting and overreacting going on, we beat them by 30 in Game 1 because they couldn't make a shot, they recovered after looking like no-hopers and actually made shots. And for all their dominance in the 3s department (50% to 25%, 19 made 3s vs 13 for us) we lost by 12 points. If you asked an unbiased neutral whose position they would prefer to be in I think more often than not they would say Boston.

Yes it's embarrassing but the sky's not falling in (yet) 

This.

[slamtheking]

All said, there's a lot of wrist slitting and overreacting going on, we beat them by 30 in Game 1 because they couldn't make a shot, they recovered after looking like no-hopers and actually made shots. And for all their dominance in the 3s department (50% to 25%, 19 made 3s vs 13 for us) we lost by 12 points. If you asked an unbiased neutral whose position they would prefer to be in I think more often than not they would say Boston.

Yes it's embarrassing but the sky's not falling in (yet) 

Just think people are tired of Boston coming out flat and lazy in Game 2's at home against inferior teams.

this.  it happens time and again with this team.  you'd think smart players would learn from this mistake over the years but apparently not.

[ozgod]

All said, there's a lot of wrist slitting and overreacting going on, we beat them by 30 in Game 1 because they couldn't make a shot, they recovered after looking like no-hopers and actually made shots. And for all their dominance in the 3s department (50% to 25%, 19 made 3s vs 13 for us) we lost by 12 points. If you asked an unbiased neutral whose position they would prefer to be in I think more often than not they would say Boston.

Yes it's embarrassing but the sky's not falling in (yet) 

Just think people are tired of Boston coming out flat and lazy in Game 2's at home against inferior teams.

Yes, in a way it shows a) that no team in the NBA can be disrespected and taken lightly; and b) what matters is who is standing at the end of the series. Because it has happened to Boston more often than most teams. But they've responded (for the most part).

This is the 11th time in franchise history that the Celtics have blown out an opponent by 20 points or more in a series opener and then turned around and lost Game 2.

No other team in playoff history has done it more than four times.

This series is following a script that has played out every few years in Celtics history ? but more frequently in the nine seasons that Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have been together.

This is the fourth time in the Tatum-Brown era that the Celtics have won Game 1 by 20-plus points and then dropped Game 2.

Brown hasn?t forgotten.

?I?ve been there,? he said. ?So I know anything can happen. You can?t take anything for granted. You?ve just got to come out and play with the right mentality and mind-set.?

It happened twice in 2024.

In the opening round against the Heat, the Celtics won Game 1, 114?94, then dropped Game 2, 111?101. They still won the series in five games.

In the next round against Cleveland, Boston rolled in Game 1, 120?95, then were blown out, 118?94, in Game 2 ? and again won the series in five.

In 2019, the Celtics blew out the Bucks, 112?90, in Game 1 of their second-round series, got blown out, 123?102, in Game 2, and didn?t win another game the rest of the series.

It has happened to nearly every significant iteration of Celtics teams.

Paul Pierce went through it in 2005. The Celtics beat the Pacers, 102?82, in Game 1 at home, then Indiana regained its footing and stole home court with an 82?79 win in Game 2. The Pacers went on to win the series in seven.

It happened twice to Larry Bird and Kevin McHale. The most infamous came in Game 1 of the 1985 Finals, when the Celtics decimated the Lakers, 148?114, in the ?Memorial Day Massacre.?

Pat Riley, then the Lakers? coach, turned the page quickly.

?I guarantee you, if we get a split Thursday [in Game 2], everybody will forget about this game,? he said.

The Lakers won Game 2, 109?102, at the old Garden, then took three of the next four to win the title.

It happened to John Havlicek, Dave Cowens, and Jo Jo White in 1973, and even to Bill Russell and Bob Cousy in 1962.

Different eras. Different outcomes.

Same pattern.

The Celtics are 5?5 in those series.

In 2024, they responded to those Game 2 stumbles with a 104?84 win over the Heat and a 106?93 win over the Cavaliers.

In the Tatum-Brown era, those losses have looked more like wake-up calls than alarm bells.

?It?s just the playoffs. Welcome to the playoffs,? Brown said. ?We?ve just got to be ready to go. I?ve played in series that have gone similar. But you can?t take anything for granted. We?ve got to be ready next game.?

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/04/23/sports/celtics-76ers-playoff-history/

We should be used to it...and it gets forgotten after the next game...but it sucks at the time, no doubt