The Boston Celtics were able to beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 113-102 in Game 3 of this series.
The Sixers struggled offensively for the first three quarters. Despite the newly-crowned MVP, Joel Embild, doing his best to carry them, struggles from James Harden and others made the offense timid for Philly for most of the game.
The Celtics were able to regain home-court advantage with a solid performance from both Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, and good contributions from their role players. The Sixers’ offense struggled a lot in this game. James Harden had another poor night shooting the ball for most of this game.
Game 4 now becomes a huge game for Philly to avoid going down 3-1.
Players that won the game for Celtics: 3. Malcolm Brogdon
Malcolm Brogdon had a very solid night from the floor, getting 15 points. He ended up making 50 percent of his 3-pointers and created solid offense for others as he had six assists.
Harden had a combination of defenders in this one. Brogdon was one of the wing defenders that forced Harden into an off night shooting the ball. Along with his solid offensive performance of the night, Brogdon is my third reason for the Celtics’ win. In all honestly Al Horford, Derrick White, or Marcus Smart could have gone in this spot.
I was really tempted to go with Al Horford here due to his offensive performance, but the lack of Joel Embiid containment made this spot more of a spilt decision. Brogdon’s offensive creation of the bench was really impressive in this game and the difference in him getting this third spot.
Players that won the game for Celtics: 2. Jaylen Brown
Jaylen Brown ended up with 23 points on 44 percent shooting from the floor. He ended up with 5 assists and 7 rebounds. Two of those were offensive rebounds.
Jaylen Brown ran into foul trouble late in this game but he played a very good game. He was one of the primary defenders on Harden.
On the offensive end, he was solid and carried the offense throughout parts of this game. One could argue that he was the best player in this game, but a nice shot late by Tatum and foul trouble by Brown allowed Tatum to be the top player in this game.
Players that won the game for Celtics: 1. Jayson Tatum
Jayson Tatum went for 27 points on 50 percent shooting from the floor. He was able to control the board in this as he had 10 rebounds in this one. Additionally, he ended up with 5 assists in this one.
Jayson Tatum really struggled from three in this game. Despite this, he carried the Celtics offense through his stepbacks and drives to the basket. He hit a really clutch three after being guarded tight by Tobias Harris late in this game to help make sure Boston would win the game.