Sixers survive Celtics’ late rally to escape with marquee early-season victory

Jayson Tatum picked up the loose ball and finished at the other end with 61 seconds to play, officially shifting what had been a comfortable 76ers fourth-quarter lead on the Boston Celtics into a dicey finish. A Jaylen Brown three-pointer, followed by an empty Sixers possession, only intensified the drama, leaving the Celtics with 8.5 seconds and a chance to tie the game.

But a Kristaps Porzingis three-pointer grazed the front of the rim, and Joel Embiid grabbed the ball and raised his arms above his head as the buzzer sounded. It was enough for Sixers to survive, 106-103, against their rivals Wednesday night in what stands as their most impressive victory of the young season.

“We did some really good things that we wanted to do. We had a lot of things we didn’t want to do happen, as well,” said coach Nick Nurse after the game. “But it’s kind of that time of year, where we’ve got to continue to clean up some of that. … Overall, the battle was there, and that’s good to see.”

Until the Celtics’ 16-4 run to quickly close a 15-point gap that Embiid described as a “bad ending,” the Sixers’ sixth consecutive victory had been powered by their defense. They held the Celtics to 40% from the floor, 15-of-47 from three-point range. Boston stars Tatum (16 points) and Brown (11 points) shot a a combined 8-of-25 from the floor until those big shots in the final minute, though Tatum totaled 15 rebounds and six assists.

“That’s one thing I really like about this team,” Nurse said, “is that we may not have one guy that’s a lock-down [defender, but] … we’ve got like five above-average guys with size and athletic ability and aggressiveness. Guys that are out there trying really hard to guard. We asked them to get into [Tatum and Brown] and pick them up and just whoever ended up on them to do that.

“I thought we made those guys really work, and that was one thing we wanted to do.”

While the Sixers (6-1) also struggled from three-point range (9-of-34), they amassed 24 fastbreak points and held a 56-40 edge in points in the paint.

Wednesday marked the first game that counted between the Sixers and Celtics since Philly’s Game 7 faceplant in last spring’s playoffs, though both teams have gone through notable changes since then.

The Celtics acquired the skilled Porzingis and rugged guard Jrue Holiday — but lost former NBA Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart — during the summer, while the Sixers traded disgruntled star guard James Harden for a collection of role players last week and are now led by Nurse. The Sixers’ first-year coach said he relished this level of early-season matchup between opponents who both entered the game 5-1.

The Sixers led, 83-71, early in the fourth, before the Celtics chipped away and got within 94-87 on a Tatum three-pointer. But Maxey (25 points, nine rebounds, five assists) answered with his own deep shot out of a timeout, and a Tobias Harris (17 points, nine rebounds) added a pair of free throws and a three-pointer to give the Sixers their largest lead at 102-87.

That advantage rapidly diminished after that, though a turnaround fadeaway by Embiid (27 points, 10 rebounds, four assists) that put the Sixers up, 106-100, briefly looked to be a game-clincher with 39 seconds to play. Then came Brown’s deep shot, before Maxey had a pull-up blocked by Brown and then misfired on a desperation heave at the end of the shot clock to set up the Celtics’ final possession.

“We didn’t take care of the ball, and we just made it easy for them to score,” Embiid said. “So we’ve just got to do better, but we got a long way to go.”

The Sixers will play Friday night at the Detroit Pistons, before returning home for two consecutive games against the Indiana Pacers on Sunday and Tuesday and a rematch against the Celtics on Nov. 15.

» READ MORE: Nicolas Batum admits he hated playing against Joel Embiid before joining the Sixers

After rolling up 48 points in three quarters Monday night against the hapless Washington Wizards, this much sexier matchup pitted Embiid against the 7-foot-3 Porzingis.

On paper, at least. Embiid was sometimes guarded by former Sixer (and the still-reviled) Al Horford ― and even by the much smaller Holiday in the post. During one first-quarter stretch, Embiid spun around Holiday for a one-handed dunk, but then missed a shot and committed a turnover on the Sixers’ ensuing possessions.

“I was expecting it,” Embiid said of being guarded by Holiday. “I thought we didn’t do a good job of reacting to it. All they were basically doing was trying to front me. I thought there were so many times we could have had a high-low [action], we just didn’t react quick enough to make it happen.

“So that’s an adjustment for the next few games. … I’m sure they’re going to do it again, and sometimes they were just coming right away and we didn’t move the ball fast enough. We didn’t attack. We just kept getting stuck.”

Though not as surgical as his 10-for-10 third quarter against Washington, Embiid again did a bulk of his work in that frame with 13 points. His only bucket in the final frame was that big shot over Tatum in the final minute.

Porzingis, meanwhile, rebounded from a 1-for-4 start from the floor to finish with a team-high 29 points points and six rebounds.

Maxey has traditionally struggled against the Celtics, who boast a stout perimeter defense that primarily put Derrick White on the Sixers’ new lead guard.

Maxey’s 11-of-27 mark from the floor — and 3-of-11 finish from three-point range — is so-so. Those attempts on the Sixers’ final offensive possession were rough. But many of his makes were timely.

Nurse highlighted an “unbelievable” start to the fourth quarter, when Maxey hit three floaters and a layup while Embiid rested. That came after Maxey had missed all four of his third-quarter attempts.

“We needed him there to take control of the shot-making, and he did it,” Nurse said.

» READ MORE: James Harden hasn’t ‘really been watching’ Sixers, but is unsurprised by Tyrese Maxey’s hot start

About 14 minutes separated Maxey’s first two buckets, a strong floater early on before a steal and transition finish early in the second quarter. Then, he got going throughout that period. He hit an open three-pointer, then muscled in a shot inside. He buried a step-back late in the frame to put the Sixers up, 56-50, then hit a jumper at the buzzer to extend that advantage to seven points.

His top highlight of the night, however, might have been when he elevated to swat away a Holiday transition attempt in the second quarter.

Though Nurse stuck with Kelly Oubre Jr. in the starting lineup, veteran newcomer Nicolas Batum (five points in 26 minutes) continued to get crucial playing time as one of the first Sixers off the bench.

The most important came in crunch time, which Batum acknowledged “shocked” him because he still feels a bit “lost” on the offensive end. Yet Nurse valued Batum’s defensive communication.

“He was really making the right switches and covering up really good,” Nurse said.

Batum, who missed the Sixers’ first two games following the trade for a personal matter, first entered with Patrick Beverley about midway through the first quarter. He also started the second frame with Maxey, Oubre, Harris, and Paul Reed, hitting a corner three-pointer and following an Oubre miss while also guarding Tatum.

He was then slated to finish the second quarter with the starting group, before leaving the court with a finger injury after challenging a Porzingis fastbreak dunk. While holding up the swollen finger in the postgame locker room, Batum said he will get an MRI on it Thursday.

Fellow newcomer Robert Covington (five points) also got 15 minutes, hitting a third-quarter three that put the Sixers up, 79-71, and also playing down the stretch. Furkan Korkmaz played three first-half minutes, while Marcus Morris and Danuel House Jr. did not see action.

The Sixers also got a bench-unit lift from an active Paul Reed, who totaled six points on 3-of-4 shooting and four rebounds in five second-quarter minutes. Later, Reed took a transition feed from Beverley for a fourth-quarter dunk.