POST GAME PHILLY - LONDON

Celtics Wrap: Boston Erases 22-Point Deficit, Tops 76ers 114-103 In London

NESN by Adam London on Thu, Jan 11, 2018 at 5:23PM

The Boston Celtics didn’t take the conventional route, but they managed to make their trip across the pond a successful one. After trailing by as many as 22 in the first half against the Philadelphia 76ers, the Celtics responded with a monster second half to earn a 114-103 win at The O2 Arena in London, England. Boston received strong performances from a blend of star and role players. Jaylen Brown led the way with 21 points, while Kyrie Irving (20 points, seven assists, six rebounds), Marcus Morris (19 points, eight rebounds), Jayson Tatum (16 points) and Al Horford (13 points, eight rebounds, seven assists) also scored in double figures. Philly had five players score in double figures, paced by J.J. Redick’s 22 points, but it wasn’t enough to top its Atlantic Division rival. With the win, the Celtics improve to 34-10, while the 76ers fall to 19-20. Here’s how it all went down:

STARTING FIVE PG: Kyrie Irving SG: Jaylen Brown SF: Jayson Tatum PF: Al Horford C: Aron Baynes

LAZY IN LONDON The Celtics didn’t have much flair in the first quarter, and it showed in their play. In fact, Boston didn’t score its first points of the game until an Irving layup at the 9:08 mark. The C’s coughed the ball up four times in the opening 12 minutes and shot a mediocre 42 percent from the field, allowing the 76ers to take a 28-23 lead into the second quarter. The only player to really shine in the first frame was Redick, who posted 13 points, including a 3-for-4 mark from beyond the arc. Morris led Boston with seven first-quarter points, while Baynes wasn’t far behind with six.

DAMAGE CONTROL Things got worse before they got better for the Celtics in the second, as the 76ers went on a 21-4 run to open the quarter, swelling their lead to 22. But Boston hung tough and closed the frame on a 15-3 run of its own, cutting the deficit at the break to 57-48. Brown was the man for the C’s in the second, pacing the team with 10 points in the quarter. Irving had a fine frame himself, scoring seven points to go along with three rebounds and three assists. Both teams were rather careless with the basketball in the first half, though, combining for 17 turnovers.

COMEBACK TIME Overcoming large deficits has been a theme for the Celtics this season, and they managed to do it yet again against the Sixers. Boston came out firing in the third quarter and took its first lead of the game on a Daniel Theis dunk with six minutes remaining in the frame. The teams would trade baskets for the remainder of the quarter, but Boston maintained the lead, taking an 85-79 advantage into the final quarter. After being limited to only two first-half points, Tatum finally came alive, scoring 11 points in the third. Irving continued his strong game with six third-quarter points, while Brown marched on with five.

FOOT ON THE GAS The 76ers still were well within striking distance entering the final quarter, but the Celtics quickly squashed any chances of Philly regaining the lead. Boston employed stifling defense in the final 12 minutes, limiting the Sixers to 24 points in the quarter. The Celtics’ big men powered the offense in the fourth, as Morris chipped in seven points while Horford added six.

PLAY OF THE GAME The court vision from Irving. UP

NEXT The Celtics will have four days off before returning to action Tuesday against the New Orleans Pelicans. Tip-off from TD Garden is set for 7:30 p.m. ET.

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This was a signature win, we didn’t even play a complete game, but once we started rolling, the kids took over, the defense took over. Our defense gets stronger as game goes longer and we get so many good looks off our defense. Embid made some good plays then was swarmed as a complete non factor. 2 J’s took over, did it with athleticism and skill....was so great to watch. Our defense has been carrying us and looks like we are legit #1 for a reason. Morris and Theis add so much defensively, as does Smart and Rozier....and none of those guys even start.

I’ve been selling Al Horford short, he really can defend and defend a lot of positions, to see Al with Theis, the 2 J’s completely shutdown 76ers was fun. That is the best defense in the league and they are just finding their identity. Al, Theis, Jaylen and Jayson defended so well, every shot is challenged....we take away everything. I love that Kyrie can be on bench and we just defend like crazy and build up the lead.

Cleveland is in a deep tailspin. The Celtics have created some tremendous wiggle room to stay ahead of them.

The Celtics seem to be in very good health. Morris seems finally healed. Now there are another four days off. They can soak their feet in rice or whatever it takes.

Theis, Rozier, Smart and Morris is a decent bench. The starters are elite. There is no way around that with top phenoms breaking out of their shells. It means nothing that Tatum is a rookie. I think over the next ten years the Celtics and Danny Ainge might become hated by every other city. Red Auerbach must be raising a toast to Danny in basketball Heaven. He must be thinking that is the most luckiest bastard ever to GM. I think Danny's drafting Brown, Tatum and the possible Laker pick will rival Red's adding young picks Bird and McHale with Parish. And add those guys to Horford, Irving and Hayward, that could be a jinx-proof dynasty in the making.

Fierce thinks we are going to the finals. That's a good goal, and then once you make it there, you steal the title and start the dynasty earlier than scheduled.

Not to jinx them, but the next five games do not look too rough. Then on January 27th could be one of the last chances for a signature win at Golden State.

People say Danny shouldn't rush and I guess Brad can try to squeeze a bit more out of Larkin, Ojeleye, Yabusele and Nader.

The Celtics need one or two more vets and luck with health at the right time. If the C's are healthy at the right time, watch out. But I don't think so if they have to rely on those four guys above.

I am very eager to see what Danny does. It'll be closer to warmer weather and the playoffs. Brad's teams have always improved.

Kyrie has the right attitude. He'll figure it out. He can get better. He can't get more clutch, but he can get a lot more comfortable. The Celtics are getting better. Earlier there were so many revolving question marks. Getting through the tough part of the schedule with a dominating record truly paid off. They are going to love the next four days to let the Ubuntu kick in while refueling for the stretch run.

Celtics fans will go through some serious withdrawal, but this is for the best. The C's will get to shake off the rust against mediocre teams. Try to win four of five and then confront the Golden State monster on their own turf.

I guess Joel Embiid didn't kick our ass, like he promised, after all.  Down 22 halfway through the 2nd we came back to be up 19 before ultra-garbage time diluted the final result.

Speaking of Embiid, if you all you see is ESPN's ticker you'll see 15 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and you might think "not bad".  You won't see the 6-17 and 4 TO.  Baynesy did a phenomenal job of frustrating a true NBA talent yesterday.  Baynes' boxscore isn't anything to crow about but what he did to Embiid is.  Embiid was, in a word, "unimpactful".

Redick can shoot.  Might not do much else, but he damn well can do that.  If Redick wasn't on an entirely different plane the first quarter (13 points on 5-6, 3-4 from 3) and continuing on to halftime (18 points on 6-7, 4-5 from 3) this would have been a blow out of biblical proportions.  Or, maybe, we would have played down to our competition, which is a different bugaboo of ours.

I think Morris is a ME-baller, but he's an effective ME-baller.  He doesn't move without the ball, he doesn't make cuts and he's a bit of a black-hole with his passing.  However, he has good, effective one-on-one offensive moves.  He scores, and I guess that's all that counts.  He really came on in the 2nd half with 12 of his 19, going 4-6.  Perfect for a bench player, who played 24 minutes, not a starter in my opinion.  Besides, we have one of the best defensively rated players in the NBA with Baynes.  Why wouldn't we start him instead of Morris?

Theis with a solid outing.  Only 6 points on 3-3 but good defense including a phenomenal block at the rim on Embiid.  7 boards, 2 steals.  He is just a solid, solid player who knows how to play basketball and goes out and does it regularly.  Coaches like knowing what they have to work with.  They want to know "if I put you in, what will I get?  If you're a scorer, will you score?  If you are a rebounder, will you rebound?".  Theis has his off nights like everybody but he knows what he does well and he goes out and does it night-in-night-out.


Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA

yesterday

Brad Stevens on @dtheis10: “If we check him out one minute because of Embiid and then put him in again, he never changes. That’s a really good quality. To get exactly what you’re getting when a guy goes into the game is pretty unique and with Daniel, you do.”
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This game wasn't over, I mean REALLY over, in the first half because Jaylen played well.  He had 14 at the half on 7-11.  Kyrie had 11, but it was on high volume, poor efficiency 4-14 shooting.  Kyrie ended up with 20 on 7-20 (35%) while Jaylen had 21 on 8-15 and 3 steals.


The other Jumpin' J came out of halftime and showed he was for real.  Tatum was hitting shot after shot and just moved to his spot and drained them.  2 points on 1-3 at halftime turned into 16 on 7-13 at the end.  That's a 14 point on 6-10 2nd half.  It was the Jumpin' Jaylen show in the first half and the Jumpin' Jayson show in the 2nd.  Our young'uns owned this game for us.  In a league that is migrating to the perimeter and relying more and more on high quality wings we have two that will be the best in just a very few years.  Think of that.  In two years Jaylen will have 3 1/2 years of experience and will only be 23 and Jayson will have 2 1/2 years experience and will only be 21.  Veterans, still at the very beginning of their careers, and are already today starters on the 2nd best team in the NBA.  What the Hell are we going to do with Gordon Hayward?


PF/C Al Horford outplayed Ben Simmons.  Simmons scored a few more points than Al (3, to be precise) but Al outrebounded him, out-assisted him and out-defended him.  He didn't let Simmons get to the rim like he needs to do because his outside shot sucks.  

We shot 40.4% in the 1st half and they shot 56%.  No wonder they were feeling good about themselves.  They were hitting everything and their defense, to their credit was really, really good in the 1st half.  They were up on us all the time, right in our grills.  In the 2nd half, however, a tale of two games.  We shot 57% and they shot 36.5%.  15fgm, total, for Philly in the 2nd half.

I cannot wait to read the Comments From The Other Side today.  Can.  Not.  Wait.  It's going to be Schadenfreude Central here.

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400975360






bob



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Having lived in Pimlico for a few years, the lead up to the game, all the side promos and watching the guys at the Chelsea game, seeing museums, enjoying the culture in London was a lot of fun. I this this is a genuinely nice group of guys that get along well, and it shows in all they do.

The game started shaky and Philly looked good in the free flowing, up and down feel of the first. But as soon as they were met with any resistance - they backed down and shriveled.

I feel like Tatum set the tone in second half, coming out early and getting after it. 3 pointer and a couple of athletic drives - and the Sixers were reeling.

Loved the finish and that fact that they have 4 more days off - they are in good form heading into the second half of the season.

They did what they had to do to get the win on the road, in London, and after yet another cold start.

You could hand out a number of game balls last night. Jaylen put the team on his shoulders and carried the team into the halftime break. He came out to start the second half with the same mindset. He hit a shot and on the next possession the ball swung the other way to Tatum. Thank Jaylen, Next? Thanx Jayson. Next?

Bob, the Mercurial one is on our team so it's not me-ball it's iso ball. He and Kyrie are our two best iso players. (fun thread topic would be coming up with definitions for things like Heroball, me-ball, iso ball, lavarball, signature wins, etc) But it was a really nice stretch that he had and was an important component of the win.

Theis didn't produce big numbers yesterday but for a time he was all the announcers could talk about. He is starting to get more minutes than Baynes. But what the two of them bring is crucial to this team's success.

Al with yet another solid all around game. He had high minutes with 34. The others came in around 31. That's good. From now on minutes played will start to be important come April and beyond. The ideal would be to not have to rest anyone at the end of the season in prep for the playoffs. That way the team maintains game rhythm right into the playoffs with everyone coming in rested. At some point Brad will start to believe that the team can hold onto the lead so he can sub more liberally at the end of games.

I don't know what the return schedule is but I hope the Celtics will get to take in "casual Friday's" at Buckingham Palace.

Next? rest and practice and on to the all star break

This was a fun game to watch.  I watched it again last night.

When Boston was getting blown out by 22 I had a good feeling that they would get back in the game.  By halftime they cut the lead to 9 (57-48)

At the start of the third quarter our 19 year old teenager took over. He began draining a 3 and followed that up with a nice reverse layup off a cut, then he knocks down 3 more jumpers. In a span of 5.5 minutes the kid dazzled.  It was an amazing display.

Our other kid dropped 21 points and led the Celtics in scoring.

Morris was a big factor because he can flat out score.  Theis, Baynes, Al and everyone else made this game a win.  Marcus did not shoot well but his defense helped turn the game into a rout.  

At 34-10 Boston is now 24 games over .500.  The Celtics finished last season at 53-29 or 24 games over .500.   This may give us a perspective on just how good this team is.  But the most remarkable thing is the fact that the Celtics are doing this with a team where 70% of the roster is new.  Their success points to coach Stevens and the genius of Danny Ainge and his uncanny ability to put this team together.

dboss

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From down 22, a runaway win for the Celtics in London.

9-4 now when trailing by 12+.

How about this one....5-4 when trailing, wait for it, by 17 or more.





bob



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Marc D'Amico @celtics
about 1 hour ago
Tatum injured his knee during the 3rd qtr of Thursday's game, per Brad Stevens. "It stiffened up, swelled up a little bit the next morning. He’s going to have further testing done today."

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bob


.

bobheckler wrote:Marc D'Amico @celtics
about 1 hour ago
Tatum injured his knee during the 3rd qtr of Thursday's game, per Brad Stevens. "It stiffened up, swelled up a little bit the next morning. He’s going to have further testing done today."

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bob


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Rest him, we can give more play to Nader and Theis and Morris, so we should be fine, I mean we still have the gifted Jaylen Brown one of the most gifted young wings....we’ll be fine.