Post Game Thread - vs Sixers, Away 1/20/21

[bobheckler]

Philly doesn't look so hot, to me. We were without our #1 scorer, an All-Star, they were healthy, Joel Embiid was getting every ridiculous call you can imagine and the Sixers pulled out a weak win.

21 ftas for Embiid. 45 total and he gets 21. Did he have a great game? Yeah, he was hitting from everywhere, but he was getting a lot of questionable whistles. We had 3 veteran refs, each one with over 20 years experience, and the zebras were running wild last night. 20 ftas for us. Embiid got more than our entire team combined.

Brian Robb @BrianTRobb
yesterday
76ers had a 17-0(!) advantage in FTA on the Celtics in the 4th quarter tonight.

Mark Murphy @Murf56
yesterday
Smart on Embiid's ability to get to the line: "We’ve got our hands up a lot of the times and he flails and gets the call. Then down on the other end we’ve got our guys attacking the rim, getting a lot of contact and we’re just not getting the whistle. Tough to play like that."

I wonder if Smart is going to get fined for this comment...?

On the other side Theis had a career game. 23 points on 10-11. 10-for-freaking-11. 10 rebounds, 3 offensive. Thompson had 9 rebounds but only 2 points. Those 2 players, plus Grant, had 5 fouls each because of Embiid. I would have liked to see Tacko in there. Not sure it would have made a difference though, Embiid's shooting was smooth as silk.

Javonte Green! 28 minutes for the guy who many of us didn't think would even be on the roster this year, and he did well. Only 2 points but his defense on Simmons and even on Embiid was excellent. That's what Brad was looking for. He was 1-4. Not good shooting, true, but only 4 fgas so not a heavy-weighted factor in the offense. He showed his value on the other end.

Kemba had a good game. He got his rhythm back. 5-9 from 3, 6 assists. 5 of his 6 assists were to Theis. He had 3 turnovers, 2 of them being pretty dumb. I don't think he'll be making those next week, it's rust.

Jaylen was en fuego. Smart was en fuego, especially in the 3rd quarter. Jaylen with 12 in the 3rd quarter and Smart with 11. Unfortunately they were icy in the 4th and that's one we lost 31-17. Only 2 points for Jaylen in the 4th quarter, and he played 8 minutes. Smart fared better, he had 6 points in 9 minutes. What does it say that non-shooter Marcus Smart had 1/3 of our team's points in the 4th? It says we went flat across the board. We had 6 turnovers in the 4th alone, 2 by Jaylen. We shot 8-22 in the 4th, 36%. Jaylen was 1-5 in the 4th. Smart had a 17 point 2nd half. 8-11 in the 2nd half. Not bad, not bad at all.

Did I mention that Embiid got a lot of fritos? 6 in the 4th quarter alone. I cannot wait to read the Comments From The Other Side later today. I want to see how many Sixer fans bitch about the reffing. I try not to talk about the refs too much, it's not the easiest job and I'm as biased towards my team as anybody, but last night was over the top.

Tatum may be back for the Friday game. Then we'll see more...hopefully we'll have different refs.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401267378


Bob


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[RosalieTCeltics]

As I said on the post Dbrown started, How can you possibly win a game when the free throw shooting is so uneven. It is not as if the Celtics were not driving the ball, Kemba got eaten alive under the basket a few times, Brown got whacked with no calls. 43 - 20, that is disgusting. Embid went to the line 21 times. After the game he made fun of Smart (and maybe Smart was not the one who should be complaining considering his rep). Embid said he was just smarter than everyone else. And really, he is right. Except that the guys in the stipped jersey's certainly helped the sixers alot.

After all that is said, the Celtics still had a chance to win this game. They missed alot of shots at the end and the scorers (other than Theis) went not hitting their shots. My biggest disappointment with the Celtics is that they miss so many free throws. This game was their's.
Had they hit their free throws they would have won I believe.

Tatum has a couple of Covid tests to pass, if he does I wonder if he will be in Philly on Friday. However, who knows what effects Covid will have had on him It is obvious RW was not in shape to play, he admitted he had some side effects from the virus, so it may take him a few days. Just because he is negative does not mean he is totally health. Tatum is in the gyn practicing, so we can take some hope that he will be back sooner rather than later

[cowens/oldschool]

We will run them off the floor when healthy, they have no one to match up with 2 J’s.

[dboss]

This game was very close, perhaps a lot closer than the final score (117-109)

Once again Brad Stevens screwed up!  It keeps happening over and over again.

He takes Jaylen Brown out of the game with 49.2 seconds remaining in the 3rd QTR.  He does not bring him back into the game until there is only 7:44 seconds remaining in the game.  There is a break between quarters of approximately 130 seconds Basically, not including the QTR break, he sat JB for 5 minutes and 45 seconds  When you sit  a guy too long, they cool off and sometimes lose their rhythm.  Teams lose their momentum.  Jaylen is a young stud and does not need 8 minutes on the bench going down the stretch in a tightly contested game.  Jaylen played only 33 minutes.  Brad Stevens does a dreadful job of managing downtime for his star players.

Walker showed a lot of quickness out there and he shot the 3 ball well but he only went 6-15 from the field and only got to the line one time.

DT with an A game.  TT is a poor offensive player for a guy that is basically a garbage scorer.  Smart with a great game but maybe one too many 3 point attempts.  Semi, Grant, Pritchard all with sub par games.  Teague and green were average overall.  

This game was lost because of turnovers and free throw attempts.  We turned it over 16 times and the Sixers only 9 times.  They took 45 free throws and we only got 20.  An 8 point loss can be found in those disparities.

Well, it's on to Philly....again!

[BingBang!]

There was a play earliesh in the fourth where a Philly player (I think Simmons) dove for a loose ball and the Celts players didn’t. He didn’t get the ball before it went out of bonds but at that point I actually thought Philly was going to win. I don’t wonder about the Celtics hearts, they care about each other, fans, etc. I do however question their (collective) balls. Diving for loose balls is an important Celtics tradition that is emblematic of many things .... best summarized as winning basketball. This team also has some bad habits — namely, missing a lot of free throws and lazy turnovers. Perfection is unattainable but practice makes better.

[dbrown4]

yeah, dboss, a couple of things that bothered me was Kemba's time on the floor but at which times he was out there. When I have to stop myself during the middle of the game to ask, "Where's Kemba" or "Why isn't Kemba out there", there's a problem. (But , damn, he had the agility of an 18 year old out there last night! All hail stem cells!!) When Brad started TT and GW I had to roll my eyes again. Theis made sure he let Brad know that was a mistake for not starting him. Great game by Theis.

Another thing I can't stand when going to the stats is seeing 3 starting guys really score a lot of points, each more than 18, and then the other two starters have 6 points between them. That crap has to go. Maybe we need to get those guys in the scoring column in the early going or something. But cinder block hands are hard to score with. If I saw it once last night I saw it a thousand times. OK to rebound with but hard to score with or take an entry pass. We can yell it from the mountain tops but Brad ain't changin' the 2 Big starting line up anytime soon. Just have to hope 6 minutes left in the 1st quarter keeps coming faster!

Four of our guys had great games scoring. But the best was Kemba looking spry!

[bobheckler]

Jay King @ByJayKing
about 18 minutes ago
Brad Stevens said the double big lineup was not great, and he knew that, but it was a way to get Robert Williams more opportunities. With Theis playing well off the bench yesterday, Williams did not get in the game.



Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
about 20 minutes ago
Kemba's minute restriction is "going up" says Brad Stevens, into the 25-28 minute range. No update on Jayson Tatum for tomorrow.


Bob

.

[sinus007]

Dboss,
I was also surprised by JB's time - only 32:49. And MS - only 1:17 more.
I don't get it. In the absence of JT? I understand KW - he's on time restriction. But the other 2 core players? Something doesn't add up...

AK

[Vankisa]

Dboss,
I was also surprised by JB's time - only 32:49. And MS - only 1:17 more.
I don't get it. In the absence of JT? I understand KW - he's on time restriction. But the other 2 core players? Something doesn't add up...

AK

And as dboss pointed out it is a regular infuriating habit/tendency of Stevens. I have cooled off on his inflexible ways a lot since the playoff run.

I hope JB finds ways to stay aggressive despite the "help" of his coaching staff...

I was also hoping that TT would be our Embiid stopper. Well, if not stopper at least deterrent... I know many here like him a lot and I thought he was a great signing, given what was available. For me however his main value was stopping the dominant bigs we have problems against. I do not believe he brings much more than Theis against long wings like Durant and Giannis. The good veteran leadership in the locker room (still to be proven in my opinion) and the added stability at the 5 against the average NBA 5 these days is just not enough for me. Does not move the needle.

I would love to see PP take most of Teague's minutes, now that Kemba is back. I like his game more, we need that energy. He shows early indications of hitting the rookie wall if his role is severely reduced.

Also, has anyone read what is up with JT? I am starting to get nervous, I hope he does not have complications. I find it highly unlikely, but who can tell with this virus. And this radio silence is scaring me.
EDIT: Nevermind, I just watched parts of the last 2 quarters on game time today and I've just read Rosalie's comments on JT in the other thread. Phew

[RosalieTCeltics]

Tatum is in the gym, had to go thru a couple more tests that are negative and could be on his way to Philly today. They have done little talking about it. It is obvious that Robert Williams had more symptoms and will have to get back in shape. Hopefully Tatum is doing ok and we will see him tomorrow night

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