BOSTON — Call it the Neemias Queta Game.

The Celtics center, whose ascent from fourth-stringer to impact starter has been instrumental to Boston’s success this season, delivered the best performance of his career Sunday night to power his team to a 114-98 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers at TD Garden.

Queta finished with a career-high 27 points, 16 rebounds, three blocks and one steal in 27 minutes. Much of his production came during a sensational first half, which ranked among the best by an NBA big man this season, but Queta also scored eight points in the final 2:56 of regulation to stifle a Sixers comeback bid.

He shot 10 for 14 from the field and 7 for 10 from the foul line, and 10 of his rebounds were of the offensive variety, headlining a dominant night on the boards for Boston. The Celtics outrebounded the 76ers 58-37 and owned a 19-10 edge on the offensive glass.

Queta’s veteran understudy, Nikola Vucevic, posted an 11-point, 12-rebound, one-block double-double in the win. Jaylen Brown flirted with a triple-double (27 points, eight rebounds, eight assists in 38 minutes), and Derrick White scored 21 with five 3-pointers, adding two blocks and two steals.

The Celtics won by double figures despite a scoreless 27 minutes from Payton Pritchard, who went 0 for 4 in his first zero-point outing since last January.

Tyrese Maxey scored 33 points for Philadelphia but went just 12-for-34. His backcourt sidekick, VJ Edgecombe, was similarly inefficient, scoring 23 points on 8 of 21. The Sixers played without injured center Joel Embiid (oblique) and suspended wing Paul George.

It was the first meeting between the Atlantic Division rivals since Nov. 11, and their last one scheduled this season. Philadelphia is a potential first-round playoff opponent for Boston, however. The teams entered Sunday as the No. 2 and 6 seeds in the Eastern Conference.

The 40-20 Celtics will visit Milwaukee on Monday in the second end of a back-to-back.

Baylor Scheierman, a consistent difference-maker since joining Boston’s starting lineup full-time in early February, played through a fractured left thumb he suffered during Friday’s 148-111 win over Brooklyn. The fracture was on Scheierman’s shooting hand, and he wore a splint to protect it.

The second-year wing said pregame that he felt “good enough to be out there,” but with a few notable exceptions (more on those below), he struggled to find his outside shot. Scheierman missed his first three 3-pointers and finished 2 for 9 from distance.

Scheierman did have an early offensive rebound that led to a lob dunk for Queta. Offensive boards sustained the Celtics’ offense during an erratic first quarter, during which they shot 3 for 13 from 3 but scored 13 second-chance points.

Queta spearheaded that effort with five OREBs in the opening period, including one that set up Jordan Walsh for a 3-pointer. That came during an 11-1 Celtics run that erased a 10-point Sixers advantage.

The Boston big man then one-upped himself during a dominant two-minute stretch early in the second quarter. Queta stole an Andre Drummond pass and slammed home a two-handed dunk at the other end. Thirty-two seconds later, he received a pass from Derrick White at the foul line, dribbled once and finished an up-and-under layup between two Philly defenders.

Queta then grabbed a one-handed rebound off a missed Walsh three and laid it in. He followed that up by splitting two Sixers for another athletic layup, punctuating a fast break sparked by a Pritchard steal. Those types of at-the-rim finishes — both of which drew spirited reactions from the Boston bench — weren’t in Queta’s repertoire last season.

All told, Queta scored eight straight Celtics points. When he checked out just past the midway point of the second quarter, the Garden crowd gave him a standing ovation.

Queta’s first-half stat line (16-12-2 with seven offensive rebounds and two blocks) has been matched just twice in the play-by-play era (since 1996-97), most recently by Kevin Garnett in a 2003 game against Golden State.

Brown scored or assisted on the Celtics’ final five baskets of the half (and added a technical free throw after 76ers center Andre Drummond was T’d up while celebrating a rare 3-pointer). As time wound down, Boston’s All-Star muscled his way into the paint, drew the attention of Edgecombe and Maxey, and zipped a pass to an open Scheierman, who buried a buzzer-beating three in front of the Celtics bench.

Scheierman’s celebration: naturally, a thumbs-up. His triple sent Boston into halftime with a 62-50 lead.

Third-quarter 3-pointers by Brown, White, Vucevic and White again, plus a pair of midrange Scheierman jumpers and a Queta dunk, stretched the Celtics’ lead to 80-65. But the Sixers responded with an 8-0 run to get back to within single digits. Boston led 89-83 entering the fourth.

A strong rim contest by Vucevic, followed by a second-chance 3-pointer from Boston’s backup big man, made it a 10-point game. A Brown 3 put Boston up 103-92 with 6:26 to play.

The Celtics then squandered a chance to pad their lead after Kelly Oubre Jr. was called for a flagrant 1 foul against Queta. The latter missed one of his two free throws, and Pritchard turned the ball over on the ensuing possession. Quentin Grimes capitalized with a jumper, Brown was whistled for an offensive foul and Maxey drove for a layup that cut it to 103-97.

Queta then put the Sixers away with his late scoring binge. Scheierman, who played competitive defense against Maxey for much of the game, sealed the win with a corner three in the final minute.

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