6 Reasons Boston Celtics Held On To Beat Sixers in Game 3, Including Surprising Plays

PHILADELPHIA — The Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers played their first clutch game of the series and it was the Celtics who made the winning plays down the stretch. Everyone chipped in as the Celtics won Game 3 and took back home court advantage.

Here are six reasons why they won

Jaylen Brown Took Over

With 7:04 to play in a one-point game, Brown came up with a steal and an assist to a cutting Derrick White. It was part of an 8-0 run that reclaimed the lead.

“All your preparation and stuff comes down to those moments,” Brown said. “Both teams are tired, your team is maybe offensively in a little bit of a rut, you’ve got to figure out how to get a basket, you’ve got to figure out how to create some momentum for your team, and I feel like I did just enough to shift things in our favor.”

The Celtics never trailed again, so Brown gave them just enough of a pad to hold on.

So Did Jayson Tatum

He had 11 points in the fourth, including the dagger three-pointer that made it a six-point game with 25.3 to go. After he hit it, he pounded his chest and let out a big scream.

“I think just first playoff road game I've been in since obviously I got injured,” Tatum said. “Just the environment, the circumstance of being tied 1-1 and knowing what's on the line and just being in a position to kind of seal the game as a competitor, as a basketball player, just you see those emotions come out in those moments.”

Tatum was 4-5 in the fourth, 2-2 from three.

Derrick White Made Clutch Plays (and so did a few other guys)

White came up with two huge offensive rebounds down the stretch, salvaging what was a rough night on the offensive end. At one point, he was a -15 and I thought it was time to pull the plug on him for the night.

All he did was grab those two monster boards, including the one that led to Tatum’s dagger.

"Yeah, obviously it's frustrating,” White said of the tough, 3-12 shooting night. “When I'm out there, I gotta do everything to help us win games. Everybody here has got my back, so I got a lot of love and I'm thankful for the team and staff and everybody here. They're staying with me through it all. It's my job to go out there and help us win. If it's not shooting, it's gotta be everything else."

Nikola Vučević Hit Shots

Neemias Queta has had a rough series because of his foul trouble, and Vučević stepped in to handle enough of the scoring to make a positive impact. He did have a very rough stretch late in the fourth where he was targeted over and over, but also, Mazzulla was living with that because it meant the Sixers weren’t firing up three-pointers while the Celtics were hitting bombs of their own.

Regardless, he finished 3-9 from three, scoring 11 points and going +7 for the night. He also had three blocks earlier in the game, so it’s not like he was bad defensively the whole night.

They won the three-point battle

They shot 20-47 from deep while the Sixers were 12-35. The volume was good for the Sixers, and they had plenty of chances to win, but that kind of shooting is too much to overcome.

“We got to make sure that each and every one of them is contested,” Nick Nurse said. “I think that they did make some pretty heavily contested ones, especially late in the game … all we can do is contest them the best we can. It's kind of like the rebounding. We got to do a little bit better. We got to contest a little bit better.”

Tyrese Maxey shooting 5-13 was not great for Philly.

VJ Edgecombe Came Back Down To Earth

The rookie was 0-7 from three, and 5-10 from two. He only had 10 points, which is a far cry from the 30 he had in Game 2.

Rookies feed off confidence, and the cold shooting can be a crusher as the misses pile up.

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