PHILADELPHIA — With 8:15 to go in the fourth quarter on Friday night, Philadelphia 76ers big man Adem Bona soared through the air, rejecting Anfernee Simons at the apex of his leap. As their two bodies went crashing to the floor, Xfinity Mobile Arena erupted. The world had collapsed around the Boston Celtics.
What was once a 24-point first-half lead had evaporated. As the latter half of the second quarter ticked away, Boston slowly lost its grasp on the game. “In the second quarter, our offense just went,” said Joe Mazzulla. By the 6:40 mark in the third, the game was tied.
A mini-run by Luka Garza helped the Celtics rebuild a small lead late in the third, but by the time Bona sent Simons tumbling into the hardwood, the entire City of Philadelphia felt the momentum coursing through their veins.
But with 0.8 seconds left on the shot clock, Neemias Queta caught an inbound alley-oop to silence the entire building. One Hugo Gonzalez steal and a Derrick White floater later, the Sixers called a timeout.
Xavier Tillman vs. Joel Embiid was simply one example of a core part of the Celtics' identity
The Celtics had gritted out yet another impasse, extending their lead back out to nine.
Philly needed a way back. They needed Joel Embiid.
Up to that point in the night, Embiid had played 17:43. Still on a minutes restriction, it seemed as though the Sixers were saving him for the right moment to reenter the game. He had 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Embiid was supposed to get them over the hump.
Joe Mazzulla countered with Xavier Tillman.
“He's just a guy that you trust,” said Mazzulla.
Embiid didn’t make a shot in the fourth quarter. His only points came from the charity stripe after he baited Gonzalez on a three-point attempt.
Tillman didn’t stop Embiid alone. But he played his part beautifully. “He's been good on Embiid in the matchups that he's had,” said Mazzulla. The Celtics big man stood Embiid up in the post, didn’t let him get to his spots, and even helped over on other drives in the paint.
After playing just 5:33 in the first three quarters, he played 7:21 in the fourth—the exact same as Embiid.
“X was great,” said Jaylen Brown. X” made huge shots, stops, rebounds, offensive rebounds, everything. X played phenomenal down the stretch. That was excellent for him to be in the rotation, not play, and just be ready to go. That was excellent.”
It was the highest-pressure spot of the evening, and Tillman hadn’t been a regular feature in the rotation all night. However, in that moment, with the game on the line and Boston’s lead in jeopardy, he was comfortable.
Why?
“Because I've done it before,” Tillman told Hardwood Houdini after the game.
“I've done that multiple different times throughout my career,” he continued. “Having different opportunities to guard him, to guard Jokic, Anthony Davis, Bam. I've had a lot of different opportunities to guard the best kind of guys, and I found that I kind of thrive at those opportunities.”
But Tillman’s Embiid assignment late in the fourth was merely a microcosm of a much larger Celtics storyline on Friday night.
A red-hot first quarter brought Boston ahead. Philadelphia spent the rest of the night chipping away. Biting at Boston’s ankles in hopes of breaking them down.
Yet that third-quarter tie was the closest they ever got. The Celtics never trailed.
“Once they tied the game and we brought it back to seven at the end of the third, we regained our poise,” said Mazzulla. “But at the same time, I like that we operated kind of in the chaos. So, I thought that third quarter, we managed it. I thought Philly obviously went on a good run there, and then it was just, fourth quarter. It was good. It was fun.”
Boston’s entire system has shifted this season. The slow, safe, and methodical approach they employed for the last two years has been thrown out the window. In its place: Chaos.
An offense built around incessant motion, constant screening, and off-ball movement. A defense centered on covering for each other and taking calculated risks. Plus, the personnel to back it up.
So, when it came time to deploy their new styles in a high-stakes situation, they were ready.
“I think it's just the players that we have,” said Anfernee Simons. “We got a lot of guys that are able to handle those situations. A lot of guys who have been a part of those high-pressure situations, and I think it started at training camp, where he put us in high-pressure situations in training camp, and we've been trying to, from then, just build and gain a relationship through those moments like that.”
And it was their defense that carried them through the danger.
“Our defense, man,” Tillman said emphatically. “Our defense is holding up. Obviously, they were hitting shots, but we couldn't punch back offensively, and so, what helped us was when we started getting stops and limiting them, then we started getting a couple fast break layups, and then it starts opening back up again. But our defense like our engine. [If] that's going [and] everybody's kind of flowing, feeling good, that really helps us.”
Even when Philadelphia managed to worm its way into a one-possession game with under a minute to go, it was Boston’s defense that prevailed.
One Tyrese Maxey make after Brown went 1-of-2 at the line, the Celtics star coughed up the ball at half-court with 12 seconds remaining in the contest. Philly found themselves down 109-108 with possession.
Yet as Maxey hurdled toward the rim, Tillman was there, and Minott snatched the rebound.
Even after Minott missed two free throws, the Celtics still found a way to press Quentin Grimes at the top of the key and force a pass. Embiid got the ball deep behind the three-point arc. He didn’t even get a shot up.
Every single time the Sixers made a push, the Celtics stuffed them. Tillman’s late-game defense on Embiid. Garza’s small, five-point run late in the third. Gonzalez’s floor-diving antics. Queta’s alley-oop on the inbound play. Sam Hauser’s three early in the fourth. Tillman’s fourth-quarter, five-point run. Brown’s 28-foot step-back three.
Friday night was full of little moments that halted the Sixers when they were on the doorstep of completing their comeback. Maxey had one foot on the welcome mat, and Boston slammed the door in his face.
That’s what Mazzulla has trained them to do.
“Joe's done a really good job of allowing us to embrace the moment,” said Tillman. “And he's really good at, like, on timeouts, making that the emphasis. Embrace it. Like, you feel the crowd. Feel it. Instead of trying to kind of get out of the emotion, feel it. Feel everything that comes with it. And then, once you feel it, take a deep breath, let it out, and then let's go.”
Any glance at the sideline will yield a different iteration of Mazzulla. Sometimes, he has his hand on his chin, inquisitively inspecting the court. Others, he’s screaming in a player’s face for not corralling a rebound.
Then there are the other moments. Patting Gonzalez on the back after a foul against Embiid didn’t go his way. Clapping endlessly after a hustle play falls just short. Providing a calming presence in the huddle that completely contradicts his outward nature, at least to the naked eye.
He doesn’t want the Celtics to put the past behind them. Not right away.
Instead, Boston embraces it. All the mistakes that led them to their own tipping point. They feel all the emotions.
Because they know, at some point, if they keep playing Celtics basketball to the best of their abilities, the other team will mess up.
And that’s when they strike. That’s when they win.
“We do a good job of, when teams are going on a run, you don't necessarily let them go on the run, but you don't crash out,” said Tillman. “You just kind of breathe through it, and then eventually, they're going to turn the ball over, they're going to miss a shot.
“And when they miss, you take that breath, and here we go.”