Jayson Tatum’s game-winner buries Sixers in 110-107 Boston Celtics victory

Joel Embiid’s one-handed heave went splash, but he immediately shook his head to acknowledge he let it go after the buzzer.

But there was no doubt about the Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum’s contested long ball launched 2.2 seconds prior, which buried the 76ers in a 110-107 playoff-style thriller between two of the Eastern Conference’s top teams Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center.

“He hit a tough one,” said Sixers guard De’Anthony Melton, who was guarding Tatum on that shot. “Sometimes you’ve got to live with those.”

The Sixers (39-20) squandered their best opportunity to clinch their first victory over the East-leading Celtics (44-17), who previously beat the Sixers in Boston on opening night, and then on Feb. 8 despite missing four starters for most of the game. So Sixers reserve center Paul Reed did not hesitate when asked if Saturday’s nationally televised primetime matchup meant a bit more, saying, “Oh yeah, for sure. We lost to this team two times and so we’ve got to get this next [one] … This is a team we’re probably going to see in the playoffs, so it’s huge.”

And the down-to-the-wire second half unfolded as a quintessential game of runs.

The Sixers built a 15-point third-quarter lead, before the stint Embiid and coach Doc Rivers identified as the game-changer. Familiar foe Al Horford sank four three-pointers in three minutes, helping the Celtics take an 80-78 advantage into the final frame.

“We relaxed a little bit, and we’ve just got to be better,” Embiid said. " ... It’s frustrating, losing these types of games, especially when you’re winning by so much.”

Later, it was the Sixers’ turn to rally. After a Jaylen Brown layup extended Boston’s lead to 97-87 with 6 minutes, 31 seconds to play, a 16-5 run capped by a Tyrese Maxey’s driving layup, pushing the Sixers back ahead, 103-102, with 1:58 remaining.

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Boston answered with another Horford three-pointer followed by a Tatum tip-in, before James Harden connected on two free throws. Tatum then hoisted up a wild attempt at the end of the shot clock to set up the Sixers’ final possession trailing, 107-105, with 22.1 seconds to go. Embiid drew a foul while backing down Brown, then sank the game-tying free throws with 10.8 seconds left before Tatum’s game-winner.

That spoiled a night when Embiid finished with a decisive 41 points on 12-of-21 shooting from the floor and 17-of-18 from the free-throw line. He added 12 rebounds, five assists, and three blocked shots.

“I was not going to give my secret, but I’m unguardable, so it doesn’t matter, anyway,” Embiid said. “ ... What we saw on film [in previous matchups against Boston] is, when I caught the ball, I was waiting for the double to come.

“I just figured tonight, as soon as I caught the ball, I had to make a quick move and get a shot. And if I didn’t [have an open shot], make a quick move to get a wide-open shot for some of my teammates. I did both pretty well tonight, so that’s a good step for me. Because obviously, in the playoffs and with the remaining games, that’s how I’m gong to be guarded.”

The Celtics, meanwhile, had six players finish in double figures to make up for a night when Tatum (18 points on 7-of-17 shooting) struggled from the floor until that final dagger and Marcus Smart went 4-of-11 and was a minus-22. Brown finished with 26 points, while Derrick White added 18 on 7-of-9 shooting off the bench.

The Sixers next play consecutive games against the Miami Heat, the team that knocked them out of last season’s playoffs. Monday’s game is in Philly, before a Wednesday rematch in Miami.

After the Sixers’ starters built a nine-point first-quarter lead, their reserves allowed that advantage to slip. And things never got better for that group, as every Sixers bench player finished with a negative plus/minus.

“I didn’t think we moved the ball,” Rivers said of the second unit. “I didn’t think we played with any rhythm in that stretch. ... Boston is great when you try to play that way. They’re too good to try to play them in [isolations]. They’re long. They’re switchable. They contest everything at the basket, and I thought they did that.”

Boston staged a 20-4 run to flip that first-half deficit into a 39-32 advantage 3:25 into the second quarter, while primarily playing against a Sixers lineup of Harden, Maxey, Jalen McDaniels, Georges Niang, and Reed. Embiid’s reinsertion then sparked the Sixers’ surge to retake the lead going into halftime.

Rivers went with the same group down 80-78 to start the fourth. The Celtics rapidly scored five consecutive points, prompting Harris and P.J. Tucker to re-enter.

Overall, the Celtics’ bench outscored the Sixers’, 27-12. While White anchored that scoring, Malcolm Brogdon was a plus-18 and totaled seven rebounds in 21 minutes. Maxey (eight points on 4-of-10 shooting) was uncharacteristically quiet Saturday until that late go-ahead bucket, a downward swing in his still-new sixth-man role.

“I didn’t like it tonight. I really didn’t,” Rivers said of Maxey. “He didn’t have the ball in his hands much tonight. ... When he doesn’t, then he forces it a little bit, which you don’t blame him. He’s fighting defensively. He’s doing everything we’ve asked him to do, but we’ve got to get him more involved.”

Tucker chuckled when asked about continuing to settle into his niche with the Sixers, saying, “I know my role.”

The veteran forward did a lot of the unsung dirty work against the Celtics, finishing with 16 rebounds to go along with seven points. Eleven of those boards — including four on the offensive end — came in the first half.

“They kicked our butts on the glass last time,” Tucker said of when the Celtics had a 44-37 rebounding edge in their Feb. 8 win. “That was a main focus of mine coming into the game.”

Tucker also briefly shifted to playing small-ball center in the second and fourth quarters, when Reed was ineffective in that spot. He had a similar stint in the fourth quarter of Thursday’s win against the Memphis Grizzlies, and coach Doc Rivers said he planned to utilize Tucker more in that way down the stretch of the season.