Sixers vs. Celtics Game 7 takeaways: Sixers lack toughness, fight, and answers

BOSTON — In the end, the 76ers still lacked toughness on the biggest stage.

James Harden’s flagrant foul changed the game.

And the Sixers had no answer for Jayson Tatum.

Those were three takeaways from the Sixers’ 112-88 Game 7 loss to the 76ers in the Eastern Conference semifinal at TD Garden.

The Sixers were criticized in earlier seasons for lacking toughness. That led to the acquisitions of P.J. Tucker, De’Anthony Melton, Danuel House Jr. and Montrezl Harrell. Well, those reinforcements didn’t help the Sixers in the third quarter, when the Celtics outscored them, 33-10.

The Sixers crumbled under pressure and quit in the second half. But they actually gave up and looked confused before then.

“It was just a lack of mental toughness from us,” Tobias Harris said. “Going back and forth when we got down six, eight [in the first half]. It was hard to generate that type of pop, that flow to get us back and understand that the game wasn’t too out of reach.

“Then they just started rattling up the three, and transition, the points, the turnovers for us that happened hurt us as well. We gave them too many easy ones.”

The Sixers made just 8 of 37 three-pointers for the game and were torched defensively. They lacked hustle while allowing the Celtics to do whatever they wanted.

“It wasn’t enough,” Tucker said. “It just wasn’t enough. We weren’t very tough. We weren’t very physically tough, emotionally tough. It just wasn’t enough.”

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While the Sixers quit in the third quarter, Harden’s flagrant 1 foul actually cost them the game.

Harden lost the ball while driving to the basket with a 35-27 lead at the 8-minute, 26-second mark of the second quarter. On the play, he extended his right arm back and hit Jaylen Brown in the face.

That flagrant foul sparked an 8-0 run that enabled the Celtics to knot the score at 35. The Sixers lost all their momentum and never had a chance afterwards.

“Even if it wasn’t on purpose, I guess a hit to the face was a flagrant,” Harden said of the hit. “I honestly lost the ball in the air, and I didn’t see Jaylen Brown.”

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The Celtics forward finally played solid for four quarters. And unfortunately for the Sixers, that created a long night for the players trying to defend him. Tatum finished with 51 points on 17-for-28 shooting. Seventeen of his points came in the third quarter.

“He was fantastic,” Embiid said. “I told him after the game he was pretty inefficient the whole series and he chose a great night to have that type of game and make shots. That’s what I told him after the game.”

Tatum averaged 25.3 points and made just 31.9% of his three-pointers in the first six games of the series.

Best performance: This goes to Tatum. He was the game’s most dominant player.

Worst performance: Harden gets this. The Sixers point guard had nine points on 3-for-11 shooting to go with five turnovers.

Best defensive player: Al Horford gets this. The Celtics post player had three blocks and two steals.

Worst statistic: Sixers third-quarter shooting. They made 3 of 21 shots.

Best statistic: Tatum’s third-quarter production.