The Celtics walked into TD Garden Tuesday night with a 3-1 series lead and a chance to close out the series. However, they walked away 16 points down, beaten 113-97, and will now head back to Philly for a Game 6 they didn’t expect to play.
Amidst this, Jayson Tatum didn’t sound shaken in the postgame and shared his candid take on the matchup and Boston’s performance.
Why Jayson Tatum Stayed Calm After Celtics’ Game 5 Loss to 76ers
The six-time NBA All-Star kept his tone level and acknowledged Boston’s mistakes without leaning into them or getting defensive. The biggest takeaway from Tatum’s comment was that he didn’t seem to need people to treat this situation like a crisis.
“There’s a human element part of it. We’re not perfect,” Tatum said. “After each game, a win or a loss, there are a lot of things we look back on and talk about things we could be better at.”
Tatum’s stat line reflected his level-headedness. He finished with 24 points, 16 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals on 8-of-19 from the field. He hit 4 threes on 12 attempts.
Meanwhile, Jaylen Brown went 9-of-23 for 22 points and shed light on Joel Embiid getting too many easy looks.
“I felt like he had too many easy baskets,” Brown said. “I need to make him work, and it was just too easy for him.”
For the 76ers, Embiid, 19 days post-appendectomy, finished with 33 points, 4 rebounds, and 8 assists on 12-of-23 shooting. Tyrese Maxey added 25 points on 10-of-18.
The Celtics shot 11-of-39 from three, scoring 11 points in the fourth quarter. Philly outscored them 28-11 after Boston entered the period leading 86-85, with Joe Mazzulla pulling his starters with 1:33 to play.
Boston went 3-of-22 from the field in the final 12 minutes. The Celtics didn’t reach 10 points in the quarter until Brown’s second free throw with 2:16 left, ending a stretch of nearly 5 scoreless minutes.
After Neemias Queta’s alley-oop dunk pulled Boston within 97-94, Philadelphia answered with a 12-0 run, from which the Celtics never recovered.
The shooting collapse came just two days after Boston set a franchise playoff record with 24 made threes in a 128-96 Game 4 blowout.
Boston went stagnant in the half-court down the stretch and leaned on isolation looks rather than attacking Embiid at the rim.
“Just not good enough overall from the Celtics tonight,” Brown said. “The result was the result. But we’ve got to move on.”
Brown also said the locker room wouldn’t panic, still. “No need to put any extra pressure on ourselves. There’s enough of that as it is.”
