ORLANDO, Fla. _ Are the 76ers built for the playoffs? Or are they built to get swept in the playoffs?
We'll find out 1 p.m. Sunday in Game 4 of their opening-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics. Boston took a commanding 3-0 advantage with a 102-94 Game 3 victory Friday night.
The Sixers had a chance but crumpled down the stretch.
Joel Embiid hit a pair of foul shots to give them a 94-92 lead with 2 minutes, 14 seconds remaining. The Celtics responded with a game-ending 10-0 run.
Embiid turned the ball over on the Sixers' next possession, which led to a Jalen Brown layup to knot the score. The three-time All-Star center then had an 18-foot jumper blocked on Jayson Tatum on the possession after that.
The Celtics went on to add eight more points while the Sixers missed their final three shots.
Philly made just 29.5% of their shots, including making 9 of 39 3-pointers (23.1%).
Embiid finished with a game high of 30 points to go with 13 rebounds. However, he scored eight points on 1-for-9 shooting. Tobias Harris added 15 points to go with a game-high 15 rebounds. Like Embiid, Harris struggled after intermission, scoring four points on 1-for-7 shooting.
Boston's Jayson Tatum had his worse game of the series, finishing with 15 points on 6-for-19 shooting.
Teammates Kemba Walker (24 points) and Brown (20) took up the slack to put the Sixers on the brink of elimination.
No NBA team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series. Only three series have gone to a seventh game after one team opened with a 3-0 lead.
But the Sixers kept telling us they were built for the playoffs.
Even when they underachieved and had chemistry problems, the Sixers reminded us that it was just the regular season. Players, coach Brett Brown and general manager Elton Brand had one message: "We are built for the playoffs."
They repeated that even with their best defender, two-time All-Star Ben Simmons (left knee surgery), out of the playoffs. Now, they're trying not to get swept.
Brown went in thinking this would be a bounce-back game.
"I think one of respectful anger," the coach said of his team's pregame mindset. "We feel we were a possession away from winning in Game 1. We started the way we hoped to in Game 2 and Jayson (Tatum) went bananas and put on an offensive clinic. Kemba (Walker) was Kemba.
"I think those two games, one of which for sure, you have payback. You have amends to make, and we want to fix."
Brown, a New England native, noted that his team understood the Sixers-Celtics rivalry and the playoff history.
"And I think those types of things are most on our minds," Brown said.
Friday marked the 109th playoff meeting between the longtime Atlantic Division rivals. The Celtics hold a 61-47 advantage. Boston has also won 13 of 21 playoff series against the Sixers.
The Sixers went back to their original playoff starting lineup of Harris, Al Horford, Embiid, Josh Richardson and Shake Milton.
In Game 2, Matisse Thybulle replaced Horford in the lineup as a way to counter the Celtics' having guard Marcus Smart start in place of injured forward Gordon Hayward (right ankle sprain).
That's because the 6-foot-3 Smart joined Walker (6-0), Brown (6-6), Tatum (6-8) and Daniel Theis (6-8) in what was an already small but athletic starting lineup for the Celtics.
So Brown decided not to go with his towering frontcourt of Harris (6-9), Embiid (7-2) and Horford (6-10). Thybulle (6-5) got the start on the wing, and they moved Harris to power forward. Horford was the sixth man.
But Brown opted to go back to Horford. Furkan Korkmaz was the sixth man.
Harris was hot at the start, forming a great one-two tandem with Embiid.
Embiid had 12 points and seven rebounds in the first quarter. Harris added nine points, four rebounds, one block, and one steal.
Tatum finally looked human. The All-Star forward had five points on 2-for-7 shooting and three fouls in 8 minutes, 16 seconds.
The Celtics clung to a 26-24 cushion after one quarter thanks to the Sixers' poor shooting.
Embiid (2 for 5) and Harris (4 for 8) combined to go 6 for 13, but their teammates combined to go 0 for 12.
With his three fouls, Tatum didn't play in the second quarter. That didn't affect the Celtics, though. They went into the half up, 51-49.
Harris cooled off in the second quarter, scoring two points on 1-for-4 shooting. But Embiid had 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting to get to 22 points and 10 rebounds, securing his third double-double in as many series games.
Embiid gave the Sixers a 56-55 lead with 8:50 left in the third on a pair of foul shots. But Walker responded with a jumper, a 3-pointer, and a three-point play in a personal 8-0 run to make it a 63-56. The Sixers responded with 7-0 run before Walker's 4-footer.
Philly went on to trail by four points (76-72) heading into the fourth quarter. They had to feel fortunate because Embiid missed the final 7:34 of that quarter after picking up his fourth foul.
He returned at the start of the final quarter. Embiid gave the Sixers a 94-92 lead with a pair of foul shots with 2:14 left.
