Boston Celtics limit Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid en route to big win: ‘they came at him’

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2020/02/boston-celtics-limit-philadelphia-76ers-star-joel-embiid-en-route-to-big-win-they-came-at-him.html



Boston Celtics limit Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid en route to big win: ‘they came at him’



Posted Feb 02, 2020





Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid (21) passes to Al Horford (42) as Boston Celtics' Jaylen Brown (7) and Daniel Theis, back left, defend during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Boston, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)AP



By John Karalis | JKaralis@masslive.com



BOSTON - On the very first play of the game, Joel Embiid was able to get position deep in the paint against Daniel Theis, and the Philadelphia 76ers found him for an easy basket. It felt like this was going to be a long night for the Boston Celtics front line.

He never made another basket.

“I give credit tonight to Boston’s physicality,” Sixers head coach Brett Brown said after their loss to the Celtics. "He didn’t start the game well with turnovers. I think we had seven in the first period, he had four of those, and they came at him. They came at him off the dribble. I think they were physical with him with a crowd. We just didn’t start well with him. He had the first basket and after that I don’t believe we did as well a job as we need to do to get him the ball.”

The Celtics perimeter defense was disruptive, especially early in the game. Boston built a 22-8 lead in the first quarter, scoring 10 points off those seven Sixers turnovers. When Embiid was able to get the ball, Boston frustrated him with a variety of defenses.

“We threw a few guys at him. We gave him different looks,” Marcus Smart said. “Not letting him get comfortable. Really making him think, even when we weren’t there, we were giving the impression that we were. He worked for everything. We just tried to wear him down as much as possible.”

Foul trouble exacerbated the problem for Philadelphia. Embiid’s three personal fouls all came in a short four minute stint in the second period. Between Boston’s defense and their aggression in attacking and Embiid’s fouling, he could never get into a groove. The fact that he recently missed nine games after surgery to repair a torn ligament in left hand didn’t help much either.

“I think there are some times he doesn’t feel it, like when he’s in a crowd, trying to finish, or pass. But his conditioning is fine. Can’t put any blame on that," Brown said. "But it’s clear he hasn’t played very much basketball lately. And it’s going to take some time even as good as he is, it’s going to take a little time to get going again.”


Brad Stevens wasn’t anxious to take too much credit for the defensive effort, either.

“He’s not going to have that kind of night very often,” Stevens said. “He’s an unreal player and obviously we have the utmost respect for him. I thought Theis played as hard as he could. But you can play as hard as you can against that guy sometimes and the ball goes in and there’s not much you can do about it from a physical standpoint. We’re just trying to make it as a hard as possible. But probably more one of those nights from him than anything special that we did.”

Stevens is right. There aren’t going to be many 11 points on 1-for-11 shooting nights for Embiid moving forward. But this performance showed at least two things: Boston can beat Philadelphia with Embiid on the floor, and the Sixers have some serious questions to answer about their team.

The Sixers now trail Boston and Miami by three games, and they’re done playing the Celtics this year. They started this road trip by losing to the Atlanta Hawks and their next two games are against the Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks. They could find themselves in a bit of a bind going into the All Star break.


The Celtics, meanwhile, come out of this win with a bit of extra confidence after a recent tough stretch of their own.

“We have a lot of guys who can play a lot of positions on both ends. On that defensive end, that’s what make us so tough,” Smart said. "It’s the uniqueness of the guys and the ability to switch on. We had Grant (Williams) guarding him for one time. It wasn’t for long, but still. To be able to throw someone like Grant at Embiid, knowing the powerhouse that he is and just being able to rotate the guys. It was really big for us.”



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