East Conf. Semis Game 4: Boston Celtics 92-103 Philadelphia 76ers - 5 Talking Points

It was a win or go home scenario for the Philadelphia 76ers and they ensured that they weren't consigned to the ignominy of a second-round sweep unlike their Canadian counterparts up North.

They executed well offensively throughout the game to come through with a 103-92 victory over a Boston Celtics team that was looking to close out the series at the Wells Fargo Center and earn its second road victory of the playoffs.

Coach Brett Brown rang in a couple of changes to his lineups, electing to go rather smaller than his stock starting five from the regular season as he plugged TJ McConnell into the role of starting point guard. That paid dividends, as McConnell was much more of a scoring threat than Robert Covington - the player whom he'd replaced in the starting lineup.

The game was close up until much of the 3rd quarter, but the Sixers had an 11-1 run that gave them a healthy lead heading into the 4th quarter. They continued to pile up the points, and they sealed the victory with over 2 minutes remaining. The following are 5 talking points from the game:

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#5 Foul trouble for the Celtics

Rozier and Embiid confronted one another in the second quarter

At halftime, four different Celtics were teetering on foul trouble with 3 fouls each. Of these players, Jayson Tatum picked up his 3rd foul the earliest - with more than 7 minutes left on the clock in the 2nd quarter.

Incidentally, he'd picked up his first 2 within the first 5 minutes of the first quarter, which meant he had to walk on eggshells for the remainder of his first half playing time in any case.

Marcus Morris had picked up his 3rd foul with 3:50 remaining in the second quarter. Marcus Smart, who'd checked in less than a minute before, was whistled for his 3rd with 2:40 on the clock, while Jaylen Brown's 3rd personal foul came at the 1:40 mark.

Coach Brad Stevens, however, did not take the normal coaching recourse of taking these players out for the remainder of the quarter. He kept all four of them in till the end of the quarter, presumably to preserve their shooting rhythm and prevent them from getting 'cold'.

It, however, meant that Philly were able to break into the paint with greater ease from that point, and they went into the locker room with a 47-43 lead that they preserved till the end of the game.

#4 The spell that handed the Sixers a sizeable lead

The sequence in question

The Sixers kept threatening to widen the gap against the Cs for most of the 3rd quarter, but the team on the road displayed a stout heart to prevent the Sixers from getting anything like a run till one particular sequence during which they unraveled in rather curious fashion.

With 3:19 remaining in the third quarter, Ilyasova received the ball inside the paint on a post-up, and as he rose up for a made shot, Jaylen Brown's hand barely grazed his hands. But the referees blew the whistle on this particular soft foul - a fault that has been a recurring theme in the league ever since this new crop of referees have stepped in.

This foul was Brown's 5th personal, and he expected to be taken off by coach Stevens at this point. Which was why he headed to the Celtics bench after Ilyasova made his first free throw out of 2. Stevens, however, wished to keep him in, and Brown had a technical foul called on him - giving Belinelli a chance to put the Sixers up by 7.

Stevens remonstrated with the referees, and that gave the Sixers yet another technical free throw before the Celtics inbounded down by 8. They never recovered from this sequence for the rest of the game.

#3 Jayson Tatum and Marcus Morris tried their best

Tatum continued his rich vein of form

The Sixers' defensive scheme worked at its best in this game, as they managed to keep Horford's shot count down to 6, while Jaylen Brown, Terry Rozier and Marcus Smart underwhelmed as compared to their previous outings this postseason on the scoring count.

Jayson Tatum, however, took his run of consecutive 20+ point games to 6. With Ben Simmons as his primary defender, Tatum made a couple of pretty plays that should end up in the highlight reel for the game.

The one-and-done rookie out of Duke finished with 20 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and a block on 7-of-16 shooting, while he also made all 4 of his free throws to finish with the best +/- of -1 among all Celtics starters.

Marcus Morris provided his usual scoring punch with his twin brother Markieff in attendance - Markieff was wearing his brother's own jersey and cheering on from the sidelines. Morris finished with 17 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks and an assist, and he defended as well as usual.

#2 The Sixers' point guards piled the agony onto the Celtics

McConnell finds Simmons off a backdoor cut

Head coach Brett Brown started Ben Simmons off the ball for the first time this season, as the rookie redshirted from the 2016-17 season started at power forward while backup point guard TJ McConnell assumed ballhandling duties in his first postseason appearance as a starter.

The adjustment worked quite well for the Sixers for the length of the game. McConnell's dogged play off the bench had many people wondering if he should've had more minutes in Game 2, and he seemed to have picked up right where he left off in that particular outing.

He was the lone Sixer who was a real threat off the dribble, and his straight line speed enabled him to score off some delectable layups. TJ finished the night with a personal NBA best scoring game worth 19 points. He also had 5 dimes and 7 rebounds to add to his tally.

Ben Simmons had his best outing of the series as he tallied 19 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals. While his field goal percentage of 40% is a testament to the Celtics' excellent defensive schemes, he managed to keep the scoreboard ticking with timely cuts off the ball, while he also shot an excellent 7-of-8 from the charity stripe.

#1 Dario Saric had his first good game of the series to compensate for Embiid's dip

Saric was the top scorer in this game

Sophomore Dario Saric was a big factor in the Sixers' first-round series against the Heat. Saric averaged 16.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists in that series despite getting matched up with defenders of similar ability.

The Celtics proved to be a different beast, however, and Saric was restricted to a scoring average of 12.3 points through the first 3 games of the series. He'd only converted 37% of his 35 field goal attempts, and he was due for a big game to make up for his lapses in those games.

In his newfound role as a small forward for much of this game, Saric was exceptional. He finished the game with 25 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal and a block and was quite effective in his jump shooting. For a change, he made 9 of his 17 field goals while also converting all 6 of his free throw attempts into points.

In a game where Joel Embiid was unable to pack his usual scoring punch (he finished with 15 points on 15 shots), Saric's rescue act made the difference in an 11-point victory at home that makes the series a little less lopsided for the Celtics as it stands.

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