When ESPN first set the 76ers-Celtics game for a Friday night national TV meeting, they probably thought it would be a battle of some of the best players in the league, like Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Kristaps Porzingis.

But by the end of the game, Brown was the only one of those five still on the court. Shortly before the game started, both Embiid and Maxey were ruled out with illnesses. This made it likely for a game that was too easy for the Celtics, which is something they’ve had trouble with in the past.

Then, with only one second left in the third quarter, Tatum was kicked off the court for his second technical foul of the game. Tatum lost the ball, fouled Robert Covington, and then was thrown out for disputing the call, which was later raised to a Flagrant 1. This was a costly sequence that cost the Celtics three points and their best scorer.

Celtics win in the end thanks to Horford and Holiday.

The Celtics got back on track before the fourth quarter and were able to pull away for the win. We were down by one point with just over two minutes left in the game when Horford made a post-up that looked more like Al’s from ten years ago. After that, Brown made two free throws, and Jrue Holiday did the same after drawing a charge on Covington. This gave the Celtics a five-point lead with one minute left.

Patrick Beverly started in place of Maxey and scored 26 points, which was the highest score of his career. He made 10 of 15 shots, but missed a three-pointer that would have cut the lead to two on the next play. Then, Holiday found Pritchard cutting for an easy layup that put the game out of reach.

The Celtics didn’t play their best for 48 minutes, but with their second straight win over Philadelphia, they now have the best record in the league (15-4).

The first quarter had a lot of points. The Celtics lost the ball seven times and didn’t play very well defense, but they still led 44–36 at the half. The 76ers ran more than the Celtics in the second quarter and beat them 36–25 to go into the half with a three-point lead. On the 76ers’ team, Beverly scored 16 points (7/8 FG) and De’Anthony Melton also scored 16. When the game was over, Melton had 21 points but had to walk out with 5 minutes left in the fourth.

Tatum and Brown both had messy first halves. Tatum scored 15 points but turned the ball over 5 times, and Brown made only 4-10 shots from the field and turned the ball over 3 times.

The Celtics went on an 11–5 run to start the third quarter and played better defense. After giving up 36 points in the first two quarters, they held the 76ers to 25 points in the third quarter. Tatum was ejected at the end of the quarter, though, and the Celtics were down by two points going into the fourth. They scored eight points in the fourth to beat Philadelphia.

Another great game from Al Horford. He scored 20 points (7/9) from the field and also had 6 boards, 3 assists, 2 blocks, and a steal.

He said, “It was one of those really, really hard games.” “Sometimes that’s just how things are.”

Boston also had a great player in Derrick White, who scored 21 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, gave 5 assists, and had a game-high +/- of +20.

Payton Pritchard had 10 points, 5 assists, and no mistakes in the fourth. He also made two three-pointers and a steal, which were both huge plays.

Sam Hauser scored 11 points by making 3 of 5 shots. All of those points came in the first half when the Celtics’ hot shooting kept them in the game even though they weren’t playing very hard defense.

Jaylen Brown didn’t have the best offensive night—he scored 20 points but only made 8-20 shots—but he made some important defensive plays and ended the night with 4 steals and 2 blocks.

Because Porzingis missed his third straight game with a tight calf, Neemias Queta and Luke Kornet both played center in his place. Kornet came off the bench in the third quarter and played as the first big player on the team. Queta played six minutes in the first half.

Next, the Celtics will play the Pacers at Indiana on Monday at 7:30 p.m. in the quarterfinals of the In-Season Tournament.