Neemias Queta Powers Celtics Past Sixers: Three Reasons They Won, and Player Grades

Game Flow
Neemias Queta was a beast
The Celtics out-worked Philadelphia
Jaylen Brown was in total control
Player Grades

BOSTON — The Celtics struggled shooting early on, but they crushed the offensive boards until shots started to fall. Neemias Queta had a career night, and he finally finished the Sixers off in a 114-98 win.

Box Score

Game Flow

The game was played a pretty high pace early on, which is typical of the non-Joel Embiid Sixers. Boston hung around at the first TV timeout, only down two, despite shooting 4-13 and 1-9 from three. Neemias Queta was a big reason for that, as were Boston’s offensive rebounds. The Sixers went on an 11-3 run but the Celtics answered to go into the second quarter only down two. The Celtics had 13 second chance points to Philly’s eight, and seven made free throws to their three.

The Celtics rode Queta to a five-point lead as he notched a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double in 14 minutes of play. The Celtics went on a 9-1 run and pushed the lead to nine. The Celtics ultimately got it to 12 by halftime, courtesy of a Baylor Scheierman buzzer-beater. Derrick White had 10 points in the second quarter, Queta had nine, and Jaylen Brown had seven points and four assists.

The hustle plays continued into the third quarter, holding the Sixers off until a couple of three-pointers got the Celtics a 15-point lead. The Sixers quickly responded and cut it back to eight, and after some back-and-forth, went on a 12-3 run to cut it to six heading into the fourth. Tyrese Maxey scored 13 in the third to keep the Sixers close.

Maxey kept it up in the fourth, preventing the Celtics from getting any separation and keeping the game at six with three minutes to go. But then Queta had a strong finish through contact, and later, two free throws, to get it up to nine. Then he finished a dunk after the ball was tipped around to make it 11, which he followed up with an offensive rebound and lay up to make it 13. Scheierman’s three-pointer was the dagger as the C’s closed out a 16-point win.

Here are three reasons why they won.

Neemias Queta was a beast

He was a monster on the offensive boards, which the Celtics desperately needed early in the game.

“I think just got lucky a couple times,” he joked in the locker room. “Crashing. Just getting in there. Just getting a body in the paint and a lot of those came in just only where I could get to.”

The Celtics found him over and over, trusting him to make plays. He only had two assists, but if the Celtics were hitting their shots, he might have had an outside chance at a triple-double. Then again, the misses were what fueled his 10 offensive rebounds.

Either way, Queta played the best game of his life.

The Celtics out-worked Philadelphia

At one point, the Celtics were grabbing literally half of their misses, which is an outrageous number. But they also kept countless possessions alive with their tenacity. It wasn’t just Queta, either. It felt like Scheierman, Hugo Gonzalez, Derrick White, and, basically, anyone else on the floor was making a strong effort to keep possessions alive.

“[There were] multiple plays where we got loose balls,” Joe Mazzulla said. “When you play against a team like this, and you lose two games in the margins and the difference is four points in three games, that's what that stuff comes down to. So we handled the end of quarters relatively well outside of the second one, and then the margins were big for us.”

Jaylen Brown was in total control

He didn’t dominate the game, but he was a steady presence and consistently good throughout. He was drawing two and kicking, which opened up some clean looks for his teammates. He never seemed to be trying to do too much.

Player Grades

Neemias Queta: A+

Actually, I want to give him the Lisa Simpson record-breaking A++++

He finished with 27 points and 17 rebounds, shooting 10-17 from the field and 7-10 from the line. Some of his finishes were a little … out of character …

THE NEEMIAS QUETA GAME! He has scored the last 8 points for the Celtics and already has 16 points and 10 rebounds in 13 minutes. pic.twitter.com/YddOG4YQTP
— Danielle Hobeika (@DanielleHobeika) March 2, 2026

Jaylen Brown: A

He was great pretty much from start to finish in this game, though he did have five turnovers, so that strips him of the plus grade. I will say that two of them were live-ball turnovers, a third was technically one but it was more of a missed shot to me, and two were dead ball.

Either way, it didn't matter much. He was consistently great in this game.

Derrick White: A

He shot well from three (5-11) but not from two (1-5). But his 21 points, eight rebounds, two steals and two blocks were huge. Some tough turnovers and the misses knock him down a peg, but this was still one of those DWhite games that make people say he’s an All-Star caliber player.

Baylor Scheierman: A-

He struggled with his shot early in the game, but he hit the big three-pointers at the end of each half, which was important. More than that, he played through the fractured thumb and wasn’t afraid to do the dirty work.

“Baylor’s been balling on both ends,” Brown said. “His offensive rebounding has been great, and he’s been shooting the ball at a pretty decent clip, too. So Baylor’s just an all-around good basketball player. He’s smart, and I like how he’s developing, as well, so we just keep progressing that on. He’s always asking me questions on defense and stuff like that, and we’re always talking back and forth. But Baylor’s been playing well, too.”

Nikola Vucevic: B+

He got into foul trouble early, but once he got into the flow of the game, he did well. He was 3-6 from three, and he also had a double-double (11 points, 12 rebounds).

The good thing is that two different centers with two different styles are showing success. So however Boston decides to go, they can feel comfortable in their decision.

Sam Hauser: B

A solid night for Hauser, who got good looks despite hitting just 2-9 from deep. He was still a net-positive, but I’d still like to see him hit more consistently.

Hugo Gonzalez: B

He gets a good grade just for this play:

Hugo Gonzalez reverse layup off the JB dime pic.twitter.com/HyEJGenBfu
— Danielle Hobeika (@DanielleHobeika) March 2, 2026

He was one of the guys hustling to keep plays alive.

Jordan Walsh: B

Solid in 14 minutes. Would like to see the early season shooting come back, though.

Payton Pritchard: C

The five assists and +7 saved him from a D. He only took four shots and missed them all. Forgettable night.