The Philadelphia 76ers know that if they are to beat Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of their second-round series at TD Garden, they are going to need a big, throwback performance from guard James Harden. It appeared that the bearded superstar was up to the task when he exploded for 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting right out of the gate in the first period.

However, the Celtics were just as hot— if not hotter — as they negated the incredible start of the former league MVP.

Via ESPN Stats & Info:

“The Celtics shot 17-20 (85%) in the 1st quarter. That's the 3rd-highest FG pct in the 1st quarter of a playoff game over the last 25 seasons.”

Brown led the Celtics with 14 points in the opening period. As a team, the Celtics made sure to capitalize early on the absence of Sixers big man Joel Embiid, as they made a living during the first quarter inside the paint. In fact, Boston shot 11-for-11 at the rim in the opening quarter. The Celtics also shot 4-for-6 from being the arc before the end of the period.

The Celtics scored 38 points in the quarter on just 22 possessions for a dizzying offensive rating of 172.7 while also recording a 95.0 effective field goal percentage. Those numbers are simply unsustainable in the long run, but that first-quarter salvo from the Celtics showed what this team is capable of especially if Philly did not have Embiid on the floor.

The Celtics entered Game 1 of this series with an average of 121.2 points on 51.2 percent shooting from the field in the 2023 NBA Playoffs.