The Celtics led for most of the night, but it never quite felt secure. The energy was definitely leaning more toward Philadelphia. Their fans were engaged, and the Sixers continued to feed them with explosive shotmaking and momentum swinging moments.

Boston’s lead never grew to more than 10, and the Sixers chopped it down each time with a flurry of quick buckets. It consistently felt like they were a few possessions from losing their grip, and then the Sixers broke through with an 85-84 lead with 8:42 to go.

A moment like that can turn a crack in the dam into floodgates. It wouldn’t have been surprising if mistakes started compounding, and the atmosphere of a high intensity road game was too much to overcome. The entire crowd was on their feet and erupted as Maxey delivered for the lead, his face breaking into the unmistakable look of a player that might’ve just seized control.

Immediately after that, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown took the game back.

In the fourth quarter, the Jays scored or assisted on 27 of the Celtics 29 points.

After Tyrese Maxey’s go ahead three, Tatum carved through the defense and grabbed the lead right back.

Then it was Brown who intercepted Maxey’s pass to Paul George, stayed patient, and set up White for the layup.

On back-to-back possessions, they quieted the crowd and snatched the lead back. This was only the start of some absurdly clutch play from Boston’s star duo.

Brown spent the next three minutes stringing together buckets and parrying each of the Sixers attacks.

He went on a personal 9-point run. A driving bank shot (90-85), two free throws after drawing a foul on Edgecombe (92-85), a 17-foot pull-up jumper that answered an Oubre bucket (94-90), and a driving finger roll past Maxey (96-92). Every time Philly clawed within two, Brown answered.

Brown — the energy-shifter — kept the emotional advantage alive, allowing Tatum to swoop in for the kill.

Drummond’s dunk made it 97-96 with 2:19 left. In a one-point game, the ball swung to Tatum. His fake sent Maxey flying by. He took a quick dribble, gathered himself and sank a crucial three to open up a four point lead.

Paul George answered quickly, Pritchard sank a clutch late clock three, and then a pair of free throws from Oubre made it a 103-100 game with a minute left. Tatum had a center switched on him, and told Vucevic to clear out so he could attack the mismatch. With 27 seconds to go, Tatum pulled up over Adem Bona and sunk the dagger in.

On the road in a pivotal Game 3, it was Boston’s stars that rose to the occasion. Years of playoff reps have sharpened their composure, and it showed when the game tightened.

No matter what came before, it felt like they treated the final minutes as a fresh start. Two players who have seen every version of this moment were calm and methodical in dictating how it would end. Every push back from Maxey and George was met with an answer, and they couldn’t keep pace.

This is what Boston can tap into at a level that few teams can match. They have a one-two scoring punch that can create at all three levels, off the dribble, in the most stressful moments. They’re comfortable in the chaos of a crunch time battle.

Not bad for a duo that critics and pundits alike spent years insisting couldn’t work.

For Sixers, the ‘little stuff' stings from Game 3 defeat to Celtics  originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Celtics’ deep jumpers and many moments of individual brilliance all stung Friday night for the Sixers.

At the end of the evening, they were also left regretting the less glamorous plays that fueled Boston’s 108-100 win in Game 3 at Xfinity Mobile Arena. The Sixers will try to even their first-round playoff series at 2-2 on Sunday night. 

“It’s like offensive rebound, three-ball,” Tyrese Maxey said after scoring 31 points. “Turnover, three-ball or layup. Missed box-out, layup. But when you play good teams, that’s what it is. You’ve got to be extremely sharp in the playoffs, man. You’re seeing it.”

As Maxey noted, just about every area of the game seems very meaningful in the playoffs. For instance, the Celtics were a bit better than the Sixers on the boards in Game 3. Derrick White crashed from the corner and grabbed a critical offensive rebound between Maxey and Kelly Oubre Jr. with about 35 seconds left. Maxey had shifted toward the middle of the floor on Jayson Tatum’s drive against Sixers center Adem Bona, leaving White unmarked.

Boston finished with a 22-17 advantage in second-chance points against a Sixers team still without Joel Embiid (appendectomy recovery).

“I think it’s checking our man,” Andre Drummond said. “The bigs aren’t really getting many rebounds. It’s the guards coming in from the corners, getting those loose ones. So I think we’ve just got to check our man, block them out and then the rest will take care of itself.”

Unlucky sequences and debatable whistles also tend to be magnified in the postseason. The Sixers need to focus on what’s in their power, but that’s certainly not everything. 

“Some of them are bad bounces,” Paul George said. “We’re boxing out, we’re going in to try to help rebound, and the ball flies over our head right back to them. Some of those situations have been tough. But knowing that, we’ve got to be better there. We feel like we’re playing great half-court defense. We’ve just got to limit them to one shot.”

The Sixers’ half-court defense has indeed been a bright spot the past two games. 

According to Cleaning the Glass, the Celtics scored 101.5 points per 100 half-court plays during the regular season. Boston posted only 89.5 points per 100 half-court plays over Games 2 and 3.

“It’s a competitive series, first of all,” Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said. “I thought we played extremely, extremely hard. I thought we made a few mistakes that you probably just can’t make in these games. … I like the way we competed. We’re going to have to rebound better, we’re going to have to shot contest better, we’re going to have to shot make better if we’re going to win.”

In terms of bench scoring, the Sixers were second best by a sizable margin. The Celtics had a 34-13 edge in that category. Payton Pritchard, Nikola Vucevic, Baylor Scheierman and Luka Garza all made three-pointers off of Boston’s bench. 

Meanwhile, the Sixers used an eight-man rotation. Quentin Grimes attempted one field goal and missed it. Justin Edwards’ only shot attempt was rejected by Jaylen Brown. 

The Sixers ranked 27th during the regular season in bench points per game and were inferior there Friday. The Celtics have looked like the deeper team thus far in the series. 

“Q had one kind of opportunity,” Nurse said. “We ran a little thing and he squirted it out for a wing three. Didn’t have many other ones. Justin usually gets more kind of random opportunities. … He had one that got blocked. Usually, he’s got a few more. With some of (the Celtics’) over-help and collapsing, there’s probably some kick-out opportunities for those guys.”

The Sixers will review the film and see a lot more to like than from their blowout Game 1 loss. 

They’ll notice plenty of decisive factors beyond stars and shotmaking, too. 

“It’s little stuff … you just can’t have it,” Maxey said. “That’s a hell of a basketball team over there. We are too, but there’s certain mistakes we just can’t make. …. The attention to detail is really, really small. 

“I learned early on in my playoff career that the playoffs are broken down into single-possession games. Every single possession matters. You don’t want (any) possessions to come back to bite you.”

LeBron James made a three-pointer to force overtime before the Los Angeles Lakers moved to the brink of a series victory in the NBA play-offs.

The NBA's four-time Most Valuable Player levelled the score with 13 seconds left against the Houston Rockets and almost clinched victory as he hit the rim with a three-pointer on the buzzer.

But the Lakers went on to win 112-108 in overtime to claim a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven first round of the play-offs.

James, 41, again stepped up in the absence of the injured Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, claiming a team-high 29 points and 13 rebounds.

Marcus Smart also recorded a double-double, scoring eight of his 21 points in overtime and adding a team-high 10 assists.

"With two of our best players down, we've got to play desperate," said Smart. "We've got to be the most desperate team.

"That's how we've been playing, and that's how we're winning, right? The chemistry has been good, and you're starting to see guys' confidence go up because of that."

An ankle sprain ruled out Houston's leading scorer Kevin Durant for the second time in the series.

The Rockets also host game four on Sunday and must win to prevent the Lakers earning a sweep of the series and booking their place in the Western Conference semi-finals.

Conference rivals San Antonio lead the Portland Trail Blazers 2-1 after fighting back to claim a 120-108 win on the road.

Stephon Castle scored 33 points for the Spurs while rookie reserve Dylan Harper added career bests of 27 points and 10 rebounds.

Victor Wembanyama was on the Spurs bench but could not play as this season's defensive player of the year remained in concussion protocol after suffering a head injury in game two on Tuesday.

The Boston Celtics took a 2-1 lead over Eastern Conference rivals Philadelphia as they claimed a 108-100 win at the 76ers.

Jayson Tatum scored 11 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter while Jaylen Brown also scored 25 points for Boston.

• James shines for Lakers while Wembanyama concussed

Nique Clifford reveals positives of being at ‘rock bottom' with Kings in Year 1 originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The 2025-26 NBA season was not kind to the Kings, who finished the year with a 22-60 record.

Although it was a long season with plenty of ups and downs, rookie guard Nique Clifford revealed on a recent episode of “The Young Man and The Three” that it he tried to remain positive about his first year in the league.

“I tried to view it as a positive,” Clifford said when asked if he took away a lesson. “Starting at rock bottom, honestly, it can only go up or us. Being one of the worst teams in the league, that’s not what I expected coming into my first year. So, I feel like it’s good to start at rock bottom, because I can only get better as an individual and as a team, so I try to view it as that.

“So honestly just looking at it through the lens of like yeah it sucks we lost, but it also gave me an opportunity to just play a lot and get adjusted and used to the NBA.”

Selected with the No. 24 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft out of Colorado State, Clifford played in 75 games and started in 28 this season for the Kings. The 24-year-old rookie averaged 8.6 points, 2.4 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game, while shooting 41.8 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from deep.

The Kings’ plans for the upcoming draft and next season in general remain a mystery at this time, as the franchise again faces plenty of tough decisions. However, Clifford might have solidified himself as a player who is worth retaining as they look to rebuild.

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Whew. After 48 hard fought minutes of basketball, the Boston Celtics scraped out a gritty 108-100 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. With the win, the Celtics regain control of homecourt advantage and now lead the series 2-1.

The Celtics were dominating for the first 54 minutes of the series, but the Sixers have put together a hell of a response since then. It’s been back-and-forth, punches being thrown left and right, and at the end of three rounds, both teams are still standing. We’ve seen some haymakers, but no knockout punch just yet.

Philly has had a balanced scoring series so far with Tyrese Maxey leading the way with 27 points per game, followed by Paul George at 18, VJ Edgecombe at 17.7, Kelly Oubre at 13, and then Drummond at 8 ppg. Boston, on the other hand, has been very top heavy. Jaylen Brown is averaging 29 points per game, Jayson Tatum at 23, and then the only other double-digit scorer is Payton Pritchard, who squeaks through at 10.3 ppg.

Notably, Boston hasn’t gotten nearly enough from Derrick White in the scoring department. He’s just below the double-digit threshold, currently averaging 9.7 points per game, but he’s third on the team in field goals attempted, and is shooting an abysmal 29.4% from the floor (3.3 FGM/11.3 FGA), and 20% from three (1.7 3PM/8.3 3PA). It’s been easy to get frustrated with White’s production, or lack thereof, but he will always make winning plays at the end of the game, just as he did last night.

Sixty seconds left on the game clock, Celtics up by 3. Pritchard takes his time bringing the ball up, dishing it to Tatum after crossing half-court. Fifty seconds left on the game clock, Tatum waits patiently as the play develops.

Forty-three seconds on the game clock, 6 seconds on the shot clock; Tatum makes his move, driving against Adem Bona, and then kicks it to Nikola Vucevic in the corner. Thirty-nine seconds on the game clock, 3 on the shot clock; Vuc takes the corner three. The ball taking it’s time in the air. It’s off.

Thirty-seven seconds left on the game clock. Derrick White, after crashing in from the opposite corner, skies over the top of two Sixers players to grab the offensive board and keep the most crucial possession of the game alive. He takes a second to catch his balance and kick the ball over to Payton Pritchard to avoid falling out of bounds with the ball.

Thirty-three seconds left on the game clock; the Celtics reset the possession with Tatum at the top of the key. He burns some time. Twenty-eight seconds left on the game clock; Tatum sizes up Adem Bona. He pulls up for three.

Bang.

25.3 seconds left on the game clock, Celtics up by 6. Tatum hit the dagger. Philly timeout. The rest is history.

Obviously, JT is the one who put Boston up and the game away, but he doesn’t get that opportunity without Derrick White’s awareness. There’s no doubt that White had a really rough showing, 3-12 from the floor, 1-8 from three. It would be easy for most coaches to leave a player having a game like that on the bench at the end of the game, but White has proven time and time again that he will show up and make the right play, and that he did.

If Derrick doesn’t get that rebound, Philly is only down 3 with a perfect chance for a 2-for-1 opportunity. Instead, The Celtics get to limit the Sixers to one last meaningful possession while they hold a two-possession lead.

That also wasn’t the only time White showed up when the Celtics needed him. As hard as Philly was to contain, White managed to pick up 1 steal and 3 blocks over the course of the game. He fought through his own struggles, and gave his full effort on each and every play.

After the game Tatum had this to say about White: “We need him. I can say it 100 times. We need him, we need him, we need him… D-White is an unreal basketball player that still just has his imprint on the game, and makes plays on both end of the floor… When he’s open, we’re going to pass it to him, we want him to be aggressive.”

Joe Mazzulla shared a similar message: “Anybody that ever doubts D-White, they don’t really care about winning. There’s a competitive confidence piece there, there’s a character piece there. He’s not defined by shot making… Those two rebounds were big-time rebounds, and he can impact winning in so many different ways. I’m always gonna double down on his competitive character and who he is.”

It’s going to be hard for Celtics fans to stomach every shot Derrick misses; believe me, I feel it too. But he has a long history of making the right play. The coaches trust him, his teammates trust him, and we should too.

PHILADELPHIA — A few feet behind my press row seat, a Philadelphia 76ers fan donning a vintage Allen Iverson jersey turned to his friend.

“This time, we’re going to pull it off.”

The score was 85-84 in favor of the Celtics with just under 9 minutes to play in Game 3, but inside Xfinity Mobile Arena, it felt like the tides were turning after Tyrese Maxey hit another three-pointer — his second consecutive, unanswered jumper, which evoked shades of his big fourth quarter in the 76ers’ Game 2 victory.

The Celtics called a timeout, and for a moment, as 76ers fans rejoiced, it felt like time stood still.

It’s in those moments that, as a writer, the story typically begins to unfold in my head.

Teams that win Game 3 end up winning around 80% of NBA playoff series.

Philadelphia looks really, really confident.

And finally, the most overarching thought:

Was this really how such a special Celtics season was going to end?

But, although I had already visualized a 76ers win, Maxey never scored again. The Celtics’ championship pedigree and undying belief in one another powered them to their most crucial victory of the year.

“I liked the mindset that we had, the competitiveness, the togetherness,” said Joe Mazzulla after the 108-100 win. “I thought there was great communication, great body language, great togetherness – just things that can help you get through stuff.”

Jaylen Brown checked into the game with 8 minutes to play

Brown, like most of the Celtics’ top performers, was in the midst of a night that came with plenty of highs and plenty of lows when he came back into the game to close out the fourth quarter. He had already turned the ball over 5 times — two of which came on offensive fouls.

But, with the season seemingly on the line, he delivered.

It started with a defensive play; he stole the ball from Maxey to find a streaking Derrick White, who laid it in to give the Celtics a 3-point lead with 7 minutes to spare.

Then he took over offensively; from the 6:10 mark in the fourth quarter to the 2:39 mark, Brown was the only Celtic to make a basket for Boston.

“This was like a Game 7 for us,” he said at the podium, after a 25-point, 7-rebounds, 4-assist, 3-block performance.

I kept going back to the four minutes in the fourth quarter in which Brown put the offense on his back and scored eight consecutive points, keeping the Celtics alive amid the many things that went wrong (17 turnovers, a Neemias Queta foul trouble, the list goes on).

During that whole time, I couldn’t help but think about all the discourse that has long surrounded Brown’s career: his on-off numbers, the advanced analytics, being pigeonholed as an NBA Robin, and all the inevitable noise that comes with being a star player on one of the NBA’s most storied franchises.

You could put away the spreadsheet; when it mattered most, Brown got bucket after bucket with his team’s season on the line.

“That’s what it comes down to,” Brown said. “All your preparation comes down to those moments. Both teams are tired. Your team is maybe, offensively, in a little bit of a rut. Gotta figure out how to get a basket. Gotta figure out how to create some momentum for your team. And I feel like I did just enough to shift things in our favor.”

Then, with just over two minutes to spare in the ballgame, he passed the torch to his co-star.

Jayson Tatum, clutch-time heroics, and playing with joy

In the final 130 seconds of the basketball game, Jayson Tatum got to the free line, hit two pull-up three-pointers, and found Payton Pritchard for a huge three-pointer to beat the shot-clock buzzer.

Tatum’s biggest shot — the unequivocal dagger — came after an offensive rebound from Derrick White. White passed it out to Brown, who had the ball in his hands with Kelly Oubre Jr. defending him.

Brown generally likes that match-up (he’ll take most). But, a few feet away, he saw that Jayson Tatum had Adem Bona guarding him. That was an even better match-up.

So, Brown didn’t hesitate before passing the ball to Tatum, who quickly called for the iso. After 118 playoff games together, the correct play was instinctive.

“In those moments, I got nothing but trust for Jayson Tatum,” Brown said. “When it comes down to it, we’ve been through it.”

The final three-pointer gave the Celtics a 106-100 lead with 27 seconds to go.

And, as the ball splashed through the net, the look on Jayson Tatum’s face conveyed one expression: joy.

“I just missed being a part of moments like that, where it’s just like a back-and-forth game,” Tatum said. “We had some moments where things didn’t go our way, and then we had to fight back and get the lead. And it was just a figure-it-out type of game, and make winning plays. The rebound that D-White got, the steal that JB got, P hitting that big shot. Just as a basketball player, being on the team where everybody’s just contributing and making plays.”

Tatum is still rehabbing, he reminded us after Game 1. It hasn’t even been a year since his Achilles rupture. Still, he finished the night with 25 points, 7 assists, and 5 rebounds, scoring or assisting on all of the team’s field goals in the final two minutes. He played a whopping 42 minutes.

But, asked about other people’s expectations for his play, he smiled.

“Obviously, I’m not 100% yet and whatnot, but the expectations of what people want me to do is the last thing that has crossed my mind,” he said. “Just the amount of joy I’ve been able to find in just being back out there, and being out there with my teammates, is all I think about.”

Joy, as a matter of fact, was everywhere. It was all over Luka Garza’s face each time Nikola Vucevic hit a big three. Hugo Gonzalez practically represented it as he jumped up and down after his veterans made game-saving play after game-saving play.

It was all over Deuce Tatum’s face as he danced after his dad hit the dagger; the same dad he watched rely on crutches just months earlier.

But perhaps no one felt the joy more than Tatum.

“I just missed being a part of moments like that,” he said. “And it was just fun.”

For Joe Mazzulla, that fourth quarter stretch — which began with Brown and ended with Tatum — embodied the team’s championship experience.

But, really, it started with both stars’ even response to disappointment in Game 2.

“I trust our group,” Brown said at the TD Garden podium, pointing to the team’s growth throughout the season. “We just got to continue to have the right mentality, have each other’s back, just breathe.”

“What I’ve learned throughout my 9 years in the playoffs is just stay even-keeled throughout, right?” Tatum said. “And I think the team that sticks together and does that from an emotional standpoint will be fine.”

That unflappable demeanor, perhaps even more than their big fourth quarter, is what stood out most to their head coach.

“I think it shows up in how you handle playoff losses, how you handle a bad game, how you handle winning,” Mazzulla said. “I think the experience just kind of shows up in – they’re poised on a day-to-day basis – not getting too high, not getting too low, having a clear understanding of what’s at stake and what’s needed on a consistent basis. And I thought you saw that tonight.”

The other 2024 champions stepped up, too

It wouldn’t be fair to give all the Game 3 credit to the Jays, though the duo did score or assist on all of the Celtics’ fourth-quarter points (with the exception of two end-of-game free throws).

Derrick White has made headlines for his shooting struggles this season; in his series, he’s shooting 29.4% from the field and 20% from three.

But he secured two offensive rebounds in the final four minutes, both of which led to Celtics baskets. His second rebound is what led to the Tatum dagger three-pointer.

“We need him,” Tatum said. “I can say it 100 times. We need him. We need him. We need him. And, it’s tough as a basketball player. We’ve all been through it when you’re not hitting shots at the rate that you expect to or want to. It’s just sometimes you just don’t make them. But D-White is an unreal basketball player that still just has his imprint on the game and makes plays on both ends of the floor.”

Mazzulla said it best: “Anyone who ever doubts D-White, they don’t really care about winning.”

And, Payton Pritchard hit one of his most clutch shots as a Celtic, beating the shot clock buzzer with a deep three and talking smack all the way down the floor. That three-pointer — his fifth of the night — gave the Celtics a 5-point lead with just over a minute to play.

Mazzulla acknowledged that Pritchard hadn’t been super involved in the offense up until that point.

But, with the clock winding down, he delivered.

“We found him,” Mazzulla said, “and he made it.”

Nikola Vucevic doesn’t have the playoff experience that many of his teammates do. Still, the Celtics’ trade deadline acquisition became the team’s most oft-used post player on Friday, tallying 11 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 blocks in 30 minutes.

And, he watched in awe as Tatum and Brown lifted the team to victory.

“Two great players, different players that have been in these situations so many times; you can just tell [when the] game is coming down to the wire, they’re just very poised,” Vucevic said. “They didn’t let the moment or physicality affect them. They knew what they wanted to do. They knew what spots they wanted to get to.”

By the time Tatum and Brown walked off the floor, Xfinity Mobile was mostly filled with Celtics fans, who cheered as they watched one of the NBA’s most successful duos walk off the parquet.

“This was a big win for us,” Brown said.

They just need 14 more.

Boston Celtics (56-26, second in the Eastern Conference) vs. Philadelphia 76ers (45-37, seventh in the Eastern Conference)

Philadelphia; Sunday, 7 p.m. EDT

LINE: Celtics -7.5; over/under is 213.5

EASTERN CONFERENCE FIRST ROUND: Celtics lead series 2-1

BOTTOM LINE: The Boston Celtics visit the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference first round with a 2-1 lead in the series. The Celtics won the last meeting 108-100 on Friday, led by 25 points from Jaylen Brown. Tyrese Maxey led the 76ers with 31.

The 76ers are 27-25 against Eastern Conference opponents. Philadelphia ranks eighth in the Eastern Conference in rebounding with 43.6 rebounds. Andre Drummond leads the 76ers with 8.4 boards.

The Celtics have gone 36-16 against Eastern Conference opponents. Boston ranks fourth in the Eastern Conference with 12.5 offensive rebounds per game led by Neemias Queta averaging 3.0.

The 76ers make 46.2% of their shots from the field this season, which is 2.0 percentage points higher than the Celtics have allowed to their opponents (44.2%). The Celtics are shooting 46.7% from the field, which equals what the 76ers' opponents have shot this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Quentin Grimes is scoring 13.4 points per game and averaging 3.6 rebounds for the 76ers. Maxey is averaging 24.5 points and 3.4 rebounds over the last 10 games.

Derrick White is averaging 16.5 points and 5.4 assists for the Celtics. Brown is averaging 24.0 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: 76ers: 5-5, averaging 109.8 points, 44.4 rebounds, 22.0 assists, 8.2 steals and 4.4 blocks per game while shooting 46.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 110.6 points per game.

Celtics: 8-2, averaging 119.9 points, 45.5 rebounds, 27.2 assists, 6.7 steals and 4.7 blocks per game while shooting 49.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 107.3 points.

INJURIES: 76ers: Joel Embiid: day to day (abdomen).

Celtics: None listed.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.