BOSTON — After the Boston Celtics’ blowout victory over the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series, it appeared perhaps no team would want any part of a focused Celtics squad at full strength.
Turns out, the 76ers weren’t fazed in the least.
Philadelphia evened the series in Game 2 Tuesday night at TD Garden with a convincing 111-97 victory in which it out-shot Boston and remained in control for most of the evening.
Here are the key takeaways for how the 76ers claimed home-court advantage:
VJ Edgecombe is going to be incredible
The 76ers are in good hands in the backcourt with Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe. In Philadelphia’s regular-season opener, the two guards combined for 74 points on 50 shots, showing a blueprint for how to beat Boston: win the backcourt matchup.
Maxey was his usual spectacular self Tuesday night, totaling 29 points and 9 assists, and the 76ers needed his electricity at the forefront of their offense. But it was Edgecombe, the rookie, who came up big as a release valve for Maxey, totaling 30 points in only the second playoff game of his career. Thirteen of them came off assists from Maxey.
Edgecombe even helped sustain Philly’s offense in the absence of Maxey and Paul George at the end of the third quarter, keeping Boston at bay. To do that on this stage as a 20-year-old against this Celtics defense says all we need to know about his future. That he might finish third in Rookie of the Year voting — behind Dallas’ Cooper Flagg and Charlotte’s Kon Knueppel — says as much about this rookie class.
Philadelphia’s 3-point shooting
After shooting 4-for-23 (17.4%) from 3-point range in a 32-blowout loss in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series against the Celtics, the 76ers needed to both attempt more and make more 3s in Game 2 if they had any chance. Mission accomplished.
The Sixers launched almost as many 3s (19) in the first half of Game 2 as they did in Game 1 and made more than half of them (10), staking themselves to a 62-54 lead. They finished 19-for-39 (48.7%) from deep, outshooting the Celtics (13 of 50), who finished fourth in total attempts and eighth in accuracy during the regular season.
Maxey and Edgecombe made 11 of 22 combined attempts. Paul George, Quentin Grimes and Kelly Oubre added two apiece. Even Andre Drummond got in on the fun.
The shooting opened the floor against a Boston defense that had packed the paint in the series opener. Philadelphia failed to take advantage in Game 1. Sixers head coach Nick Nurse even suggested his team had passed up some open shots in their blowout loss, hesitating after a poor shooting start. That wasn’t a problem in Game 2.
Most impressive about Philadelphia’s win? The Celtics got solid games from both Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, and still got worked. Their advantage was on the wing, where Philly only has 35-year-old George and … Oubre to stop them. I’m not sure Justin Edwards or Dominick Barlow is scaring them off the bench, either.
Brown totaled 36 points, seven rebounds and four assists in defeat. Tatum was one assist shy of a triple-double (19 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists). Granted, they combined to shoot 19-of-43 (44.1%) from the field, but they made 40% of their 3s (7 of 20) and were the two best players on the floor, if not for Maxey and Edgecombe.
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