Boston -- The Celtics entered the final frame of Tuesday night's tilt with a one-point edge. They were potentially 12 minutes from punching their ticket to the second round of the playoffs. What came next was one of the worst fourth quarters played in franchise history.
Boston put just 11 points on the board. StatMuse has that as the fewest scored in the fourth quarter of a playoff game in team history. The hosts shot a frigid 3/22 from the field [13.6 percent]. Even on a cold shooting night, it's a reality that seemed almost impossible before the period began. They only converted on two of the eight threes they hoisted.
Those misses put immense pressure on their defense. And while the Celtics could have pushed more off of the Philadelphia 76ers' makes, the reality is they didn't. It was a vicious cycle. One that led to getting dejected as the thought of ending this first-round rivalry clash in five games faded.
They got stuck in a style of play that fed into Joel Embiid torching them to the tune of 33 points, the most in the matchup. He also punished ineffective double-teams, dishing out a game-high eight assists.
All series, Joe Mazzulla has cautioned about the dangers of the Sixers getting the scoring boost they need from Quentin Grimes. He played off his star center, producing 18 points off the bench.
The Celtics have no time to dwell on their Game 5 loss
Their next opportunity to land the knockout blow that propels them to the Eastern Conference Semifinals is on Thursday in the "City of Brotherly Love."
Boston has less than 48 hours to figure out what went wrong and dial up the emotion, intensity, and urgency demonstrated while seizing two of the victories that put the team in this position.
"Take a deep breath, relax, and get ready to go," voiced Jaylen Brown from the post-game podium. "And just have the right mentality, and come out and execute your job. No need to put any extra pressure on ourselves. It's already enough of that as it is. So, just come out and play basketball, and play the right way. I think that's what our mindset is, and that's what we [have] got to do going forward. Tonight wasn't the best example of what we want to do, Celtics basketball. We didn't shoot the ball well, maybe some frustration was there, etc. So, now, gotta move forward."
In closeout opportunities on the road, Boston is 7-4 in the Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown era, meaning since the 2018 postseason. Two of those wins came in the bubble in 2020. However, as the franchise's star tandem ascended, the organization didn't have to wait until their primes to assert its dominance in these moments. The Celtics are 4-1 under these conditions since 2022.
It speaks to the maturity of a group that has been there before, knows what it takes, and finishes the job.
"Just have an understanding, a perspective," said Joe Mazzulla after it was the 76ers, with their season on the line, who met the moment in Game 5. "It wasn't all bad. We played solid basketball, and then let's focus on the stuff that we have to get better at and be more consistent in those."
There's an earned trust that this team has in each other -- even with younger players taking on more critical roles than when Boston could rely on veteran stalwarts like Al Horford and Jrue Holiday.
A part of that stems from understanding how to summon the urgency that perhaps wasn't there on a night when Payton Pritchard voiced that the Celtics had opportunities to end the series, but "we just mess around with the game."
Now, it's time to turn the page and pen the part where they atone for that to land the haymaker needed to reach Round 2.
"We don't have time to dwell on it," said Pritchard. "We've got to go to Philly tomorrow and get ready for Thursday."
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