Edgecombe makes history with 30-10 to stun C's

It was emblematic of Philadelphia's entire approach in this game, and a complete role reversal from Sunday's Game 1. In that one, the 76ers were an abysmal 4-for-23 from 3-point range and, per Genius IQ, went 8-for-37 on jumpers -- their worst showing of the entire season.

In Tuesday's game, with the Celtics heavily employing a standard drop defensive coverage with their bigs (they ran it 69.7% of the time, per Genius IQ, the third-highest rate of any team in a playoff game since player tracking data began in the 2013-14 season) the 76ers feasted. Philadelphia finished the game 19-for-39 from 3, and Edgecombe (6-for-10) and Maxey (5-for-12) both made more in this game than the entire team did in Game 1.

"I'm gonna be honest, I think we all knew where the shots were going to come from," Edgecombe said. "We knew where we were going to get the shots from, where the help was going to be at. So just credit my teammates for just, we kept trusting each other. Everyone can make a play on the court, so we kept trusting each other and I was in the spot and they wanted me to shoot the ball.

"It wouldn't have been right if I didn't shoot the ball, so I had to shoot the ball, hit wide open shots and try to get my teammates assists."

But, even after all of that, the Celtics still had cut it to 91-89 with 6:25 left. The TD Garden crowd was roaring and expecting this to be yet another win at the hands of their rivals, whom the Celtics have defeated in six consecutive playoff series dating back to 1982. And yet, it was Maxey who knocked down consecutive pull-up 3-pointers that pushed the lead back to 8, and gave the 76ers the separation necessary to close the game out.

"VJ did his job," Maxey said. "He got us here. [When] they kind of cut the lead to two and I said, 'All right, this is my time to close the game out.'"

And that he did, as Boston found itself on the wrong end of a loss that felt all too familiar for anyone who has followed this team over the past decade. The Celtics finished the game 13-for-50 from 3-point range, with Derrick White (2-for-10), Jayson Tatum and Sam Hauser (both 2-for-8) combining to go 6-for-26 by themselves.

So while Tatum had 19 points, 14 boards and 9 assists and Brown finished with 36 points, it wasn't enough to prevent the same kind of loss that's haunted this team over and over again during the past few postseasons.

"I trust our group," Brown said. "We've grown a lot over the course [of the season] ... we've just got to continue to have the right mentality and have each other's back, and just breathe.

"It's going to be a journey. It's going to be some ups and some downs, but I'm looking forward to it with my guys."

The 76ers fans will be looking forward to welcoming their rivals to South Philadelphia Friday night with this series tied and with Embiid -- who stayed back in Philadelphia to continue recovering from that appendectomy 12 days ago in Houston -- beginning a strength and conditioning program Monday.