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Celtics Wrap: Boston Back Below .500 After 106-96 Loss To 76ers
Boston was no match for Philadelphia


NESN by Abigail Adams

The Celtics hoped to find a way around the mighty 76ers, but that simply didn’t happen.

Philadelphia was in control for all but one quarter of its 106-96 win over Boston at TD Garden on Tuesday. The Sixers traded leads with the C’s in the first, but things went down for BeanTown from there despite a decent shooting night.

Jayson Tatum got off to another slow start but finished the game with 20 points, four rebounds, four assists and three turnovers.

Boston had hoped Robert Williams would make a difference against Joel Embiid, but foul trouble kept him from doing so. He finished the night with just four points, though he did record nine rebounds.

The Celtics fell to 25-26 while the Sixers climbed to 35-16.


Here’s how it all went down.

STARTING FIVE
PG: Kemba Walker
SG: Marcus Smart
SF: Jaylen Brown
PF: Jason Tatum
C: Robert Williams


It did not always feel like it, but there was not much daylight on the scoreboard between the two teams to start the game.

Embiid led the Sixers with 12 points of 3-of-5 shooting (60%) and four rebounds in the first quarter. Williams tried to keep up, but made his way to the bench late in the frame after recording his third foul in under six minutes played. He did have four rebounds, though.

Brown was one of the Celtics’ long bright spots with eight points on 3-of-4 shooting (75%), although Smart’s five points and Walker’s three assists were some help.


The teams traded leads throughout the quarter, but Philly ultimately took a one-point lead into the second. That’s a credit to Boston, which had seven turnovers and seven fouls in the first 12 minutes alone.

CLASSIC CELTICS
It did not take long for things to fall apart for Boston.

The C’s maintained a small lead to start the quarter, but the Sixers switched things up shortly before halftime.

Philly went on a 19-2 run late in the second that flipped its three-point deficit to a 15-point advantage in a matter of minutes. Danny Green capitalized on Boston’s lackluster defense and came away with 14 points without missing a single shot.

The Celtics could not keep up on offense either, despite shooting 48.6% from the field. Tatum was not much help — hitting just two of his nine shots (22.2%) in the first half — which forced the bench to pick up the slack

The Sixers took a 59-46 lead into the second half. Williams did not play a single minute in the second quarter thanks to his early foul problems.

Boston’s 14 turnovers are the most the team has given up in a single half this season, per Forbes’ Chris Grenham. Smart (five) and Brown (three) combined for more than half.

PHILLY STANDS FIRM
It was much of the same for both sides in the third.

Williams finally returned to the court early, but quickly returned to the bench after picking up his fourth foul of the game after less than three minutes on the court. He later returned to the court and finished the quarter with four more rebounds.

Embiid built momentum again after a slow second quarter. He put up 11 more points on 50% shooting and collected two more rebounds.

Tatum found a rhythm, too, and put up 10 points of his own. He still shot just 33.3% through three, though.

Philly entered the final frame up 80-75.

DO WE SOUND LIKE A BROKEN RECORD YET?
Try as they might, the C’s just could not trim back the Sixers’ lead.

Philly’s lead hovered around 14 throughout the quarter. Embiid led all scorers with an impressive 35 points and six rebounds despite four turnovers.

The two teams had nearly identical nights shooting-wise. The C’s completed 33 of 70 (47.1%) while the Sixers finished 34 of 73 shots (46.6%).

Boston trimmed Philly’s lead to 10 in the final moments, but ultimately fell short of its third straight win.

The Sixers returned to the win column with their 106-96 victory at TD Garden.

PLAY OF THE GAME
Please enjoy this metaphor for Tuesday’s game.


UP NEXT
Boston has yet another quick turnaround before hosting the New York Knicks on Wednesday night. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m. ET.

112288

OUR QUESTIONS WERE ANSWERED TONIGHT. THE SCORE TELLS THE STORY.

SAD

112288

We lost the game in the second quarter, from about three minutes in until about three minutes to go.  We were stuck at 35 and then 37 points for that six minute stretch.

Let that sink in.  We scored just two points in the middle six minutes of the second quarter.

Other than that six minute drought, we outscored them in the other 42 minutes. 

We missed Thompson more than many folks would admit.  Fournier was also missed, but we needed a veteran big most of all, IMO.

So rag on the Time Lord, rag on Tatum, rag on Kimba, etc. to infinity.  If Thompson starts and Fournier was available, we beat these guys.

I think it's safe to say this was the worst game The Time Lord has had in 2 years or more.  He was going for everything, just like in the bad ol' days.  I'm not saying we should trade him or anything stupid like that, but we needed him on the floor tonight and he couldn't do it.  As a result, and with Tristan out, that put us and Brad into a very, very difficult position.

Tatum with 20 points on 7-17 and 5-7 of them with the game already gone.  All-Star Jayson Tatum went 3-10 from 3 tonight and is 38% from 3 this season.  That's not bad, it's about the league average, but not something we should 'oooh and ahhh' about.

Jaylen Brown started off on fire and the went out.  He was 6-10, can't argue with that percentage-wise, but 10 fgas isn't enough.  He had 3 turnovers and was victimized repeatedly by Tobias Harris on defense.

Our two All-Stars gave us 37 points.  Their two All-Stars gave them 47.

Kemba, for all his flaws on defense, was 6-14 (not bad) and 6 assists and 1 turnover.  Kemba wasn't the problem.

Smart with 6 turnovers.  That's 40% of our team's 20 turnovers and 20 turnovers are wtf too many.

Because RWill couldn't stay on the floor we had a melange of players playing center.  Kornet with 15 decent minutes, the 3 blocks being his highlight, Moe Wagner with a cameo and have-a-seat-son night, Tacko was thrown into the fire and then the neither-fish-nor-fowl duo of Semi Ojelaye and Grant Williams.  Not that it mattered, Joel Embiid was hitting step back, fadeaway 15'ers.  For a 7', 280#er the refs treat him like he's a communion wafer. I will say one thing: we didn't see Embiid try to post up Tacko, did we, but he did go and do whatever he wanted against everybody else?

Gotta give some shout-out to Romeo.  He played well.  He's not a scorer, we know that, he was 1-3 for 2 points but he always seems to be around the ball.  Brad said Romeo might be our best wing defender.  Aside from being a bit of a slap at Jaylen, I can see where he's coming from.  Romeo got game.  What depresses me is that he hasn't played all year and he's the one I'm talking about.

Would this be any different if Thompson and Fournier played?  Good question.  We lost by 20 but it was 13-15 for a lot of it and Fournier could deliver that.  Thompson might have slowed Embiid down a bit, despite Embiid being in god-mode.  I feel like Danny built us to compete with Milwaukee, whom we match up with pretty well, but the Sixers were built to compete with us.  Suppose we were healthy and they were healthy (George Hill was out for them)?  Hmmm.  Maybe.  Suppose we were healthy and the Js didn't look like a pair of deer caught in headlights?  Now I'm liking our chances better.  Our youth is our inconsistency and our inconsistency is our record, sprinkled with a heavy incidence of COVID.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401307562


Bob


.

gyso wrote:We lost the game in the second quarter, from about three minutes in until about three minutes to go.  We were stuck at 35 and then 37 points for that six minute stretch.

Let that sink in.  We scored just two points in the middle six minutes of the second quarter.

Other than that six minute drought, we outscored them in the other 42 minutes. 

We missed Thompson more than many folks would admit.  Fournier was also missed, but we needed a veteran big most of all, IMO.

So rag on the Time Lord, rag on Tatum, rag on Kimba, etc. to infinity.  If Thompson starts and Fournier was available, we beat these guys.

I disagree there.

I do not like Thompson, I fully admit that. But I think what we missed was Daniel Theis, not Thompson. Thompson was pretty bad against Embiid last 2 games and that is the only place where he could have been a better fit that Theis for us.

As bob also points out, we missed an experienced big. Our experienced big was Theis though, not Thompson. This is a game where his loss really shows.

I agree with you fully on Fournier. I think Fournier missing was a much bigger blow than some realize indeed. Especially against a quality team like Philly. He fills one of our glaring needs against quality teams especially for a good vet wing that can score and defend (at least average).

I have not watched the full game yet, but from what I can see so far Philly was in control throughout. They did not need to outscore us much in the second half, just keep the lead.

112288 wrote:OUR QUESTIONS WERE ANSWERED TONIGHT.  THE SCORE TELLS THE STORY.

SAD

112288

I have to agree with 112288 on the result as well. There are mitigating circumstances of lacking continuity, but that was the case for the last several seasons as well. This team, this year is just not good. Period. They do not have the time to turn it around either.

It becomes a question of who do you keep and who do you change this offseason.

gyso wrote:We lost the game in the second quarter, from about three minutes in until about three minutes to go.  We were stuck at 35 and then 37 points for that six minute stretch.

Let that sink in.  We scored just two points in the middle six minutes of the second quarter.

Other than that six minute drought, we outscored them in the other 42 minutes. 

We missed Thompson more than many folks would admit.  Fournier was also missed, but we needed a veteran big most of all, IMO.

So rag on the Time Lord, rag on Tatum, rag on Kimba, etc. to infinity.  If Thompson starts and Fournier was available, we beat these guys.

Exactly Tatum and Kemba were ice cold during that stretch too. Jaylen carried us early then just stopped shooting for too long.

Bob,

We lost by 10 points, not 20. 106-96.

If Thompson starts, Embiid wouldn't have gone to the line without getting a couple bumps and bruises. Then the Time Lord would have come off the bench and perhaps he would have played a few more minutes. Embiid also got the benefit of star calls and bad reffing. They stopped allowing a player to go to the line when bringing the ball up through the hands of the defender. Embiid went to the line two or three times on that call alone.

Fournier was brought in to help eliminate the scoring droughts. He was starting to click. Maybe that six minute stretch doesn't happen with him being available.

Use the ESPN link you provided and once there, click on the Gamecast tab. Scroll down to the Game Flow. It is interactive. You can see that, other than that six minute period in the second quarter, our lines pretty much paralleled theirs. Eliminate that drought, take away some of Embiid's trips to the line and we have a different ballgame.

Everything else is just noise. What I mean by that is: This is how we have been playing for most of the season. The two J's don't always perform like all stars (youth?). Kemba rarely shoots better than 50% on his field goals (legs?). The gruesome foursome (Mo, Luke, Semi and Grant) are not the answer against one of the best bigs in the business. Marcus Smart sometimes feels the need to force things. A couple of his passes ended up at knee height or below. (bad spacing?).

In my opinion, if we had two of our missing players on the floor, that would have been enough to make a difference in this game. We may never get everything clicking all the time but when we have everyone available, that may be alright.

gyso

I fault the medical staff for Thompson now missing 22 days from Covid. I know I sound like a broken record, but I had three patients with severe cases of Covid - 102*+ fevers, severe coughing, LIMP AS WET NOODLES, and they got back to full strength in just a few days. One was 82 years old.

Players tested every single day should not progress into severe covid symptoms if they are given proper treatment upon detection.

We really missed Tristan and now also Evan. My beef. Ongoing.

Vankisa,

So you don't like Thompson and you'd rather have Theis. I miss Theis too. Maybe he would have made a difference, but he isn't here.

Our experienced big was Theis though, not Thompson? No, I don't really agree with that. They both have experience, they just have different strengths.

In my opinion, there isn't such a huge gap between Boston and Philly that couldn't be filled by the Celtics being at full strength. We may never be at full strength this season so we maty never find out.

W,

You are blaming the Celtic's medical staff for a player's covid symptoms? That seems to be a reach, IMO.

Maybe Thompson is a long hauler. Youth isn't always the great advantage. Covid affects different people in different ways.

They were waiting on a cardiac test last Friday. We have had zero updates since. Perhaps it didn't go all that well, we fans may never know.

We'll have to wait for the book.

Embid put up 40 on Gobert, learning experience for Timelord, who defends Giannis and AD fairly well, but Embid a different beast because of his physicality. Thompson would have helped even though he wouldn’t stop Embid either. Bottomline Tatum and Brown have to dominate their match ups better, be nice for both going for 30. Hate when Tatum is ice cold to start a game. Kemba not impressing me at all, still tries to do too much and gets swallowed up too many times.

Tough 2nd quarter and Embiid; that's the story.

Credit also to Simmons. He keeps getting knocked for being a guard who doesn't shoot from range and he keeps showing he doesn't need to. Making the critics look foolish.

Can't fault RWIII. If we had Thompson that would be more fouls to give, but less athletic play than RWIII. Best you can do against Embiid right now is take every big in your lineup, play physical and let the foul count run up. Not an ideal strategy, but Embiid is becoming that dominant.

76ers tied with the Nets atop the East, 35 in the win column with 4 weeks to go. I think those two even have the potential to make the Bucks just an also-ran in the playoffs.

Jared Weiss
@JaredWeissNBA
·
1h
It’s bizarre the Celtics are making these kind of compounding defensive errors still. Tatum abandons the formation to rotate off Green after the pass, Brown sees the mistake & doesn’t x-out like he knows he has to at this point. Smart sees JB’s error & doesn’t fix himself...

https://twitter.com/i/status/1379773411879231489


Bob


.

I am going to redirect my frustration and contact Wyc, Danny, and Adam Silver directly, sending them the info they should all know. It will be in their hands by Monday. I should not have assumed that they have access to information that I get so easily. Mea Culpa.

Hi,
A few comments on game.
Doc is a much better coach than Bret Brown.
Celtics, as many others have noted here, do need a dinosaur center to deal with Embiid.
When 2 Js are quiet as they were yesterday you can forget about winning, especially against a good team like PHI.
And the bad news is that there's high probability that we'll get them in the playoffs.

AK

When did we lose this game. When we began standing around and watching stupid iso plays develop with either Tatum, Brown, Walker, or dribble down and shoot from the arc with a defender in your grill!

No ball movement, no sense of urgency, no rotational offense..............nothing. It just stopped!

If Stevens has been preaching ball and player movement the whole year and the players are not responding.....it's over folks! The horses have spit the bit!

As the article in WEEI today calling for a blowup of the team, probably makes sense because the Celtics and fans are living in Purgatory right now.

112288

DBROWN. WHAT ARE YOU THINKING. EXPAND ON YOUR THOUGHT.

112288

gyso wrote:We lost the game in the second quarter, from about three minutes in until about three minutes to go.  We were stuck at 35 and then 37 points for that six minute stretch.

Let that sink in.  We scored just two points in the middle six minutes of the second quarter.

Other than that six minute drought, we outscored them in the other 42 minutes. 

We missed Thompson more than many folks would admit.  Fournier was also missed, but we needed a veteran big most of all, IMO.

So rag on the Time Lord, rag on Tatum, rag on Kimba, etc. to infinity.  If Thompson starts and Fournier was available, we beat these guys.

You may have a case in regards to Fournier playing but with Thompson not so much. The last 2 meetings against the Sixers, Embiid had 42 and 38 while Thompson score 2 and 4 points. We lost both games.

bobheckler wrote:I think it's safe to say this was the worst game The Time Lord has had in 2 years or more.  He was going for everything, just like in the bad ol' days.  I'm not saying we should trade him or anything stupid like that, but we needed him on the floor tonight and he couldn't do it.  As a result, and with Tristan out, that put us and Brad into a very, very difficult position.

Tatum with 20 points on 7-17 and 5-7 of them with the game already gone.  All-Star Jayson Tatum went 3-10 from 3 tonight and is 38% from 3 this season.  That's not bad, it's about the league average, but not something we should 'oooh and ahhh' about.

Jaylen Brown started off on fire and the went out.  He was 6-10, can't argue with that percentage-wise, but 10 fgas isn't enough.  He had 3 turnovers and was victimized repeatedly by Tobias Harris on defense.

Our two All-Stars gave us 37 points.  Their two All-Stars gave them 47.

Kemba, for all his flaws on defense, was 6-14 (not bad) and 6 assists and 1 turnover.  Kemba wasn't the problem.

Smart with 6 turnovers.  That's 40% of our team's 20 turnovers and 20 turnovers are wtf too many.

Because RWill couldn't stay on the floor we had a melange of players playing center.  Kornet with 15 decent minutes, the 3 blocks being his highlight, Moe Wagner with a cameo and have-a-seat-son night, Tacko was thrown into the fire and then the neither-fish-nor-fowl duo of Semi Ojelaye and Grant Williams.  Not that it mattered, Joel Embiid was hitting step back, fadeaway 15'ers.  For a 7', 280#er the refs treat him like he's a communion wafer.  I will say one thing:  we didn't see Embiid try to post up Tacko, did we, but he did go and do whatever he wanted against everybody else?

Gotta give some shout-out to Romeo.  He played well.  He's not a scorer, we know that, he was 1-3 for 2 points but he always seems to be around the ball.  Brad said Romeo might be our best wing defender.  Aside from being a bit of a slap at Jaylen, I can see where he's coming from.  Romeo got game.  What depresses me is that he hasn't played all year and he's the one I'm talking about.

Would this be any different if Thompson and Fournier played?  Good question.  We lost by 20 but it was 13-15 for a lot of it and Fournier could deliver that.  Thompson might have slowed Embiid down a bit, despite Embiid being in god-mode.  I feel like Danny built us to compete with Milwaukee, whom we match up with pretty well, but the Sixers were built to compete with us.  Suppose we were healthy and they were healthy (George Hill was out for them)?  Hmmm.  Maybe.  Suppose we were healthy and the Js didn't look like a pair of deer caught in headlights?  Now I'm liking our chances better.  Our youth is our inconsistency and our inconsistency is our record, sprinkled with a heavy incidence of COVID.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401307562


Bob


.

Let it go Bob. If Embiid wanted to post up Tacko last night he could have and he would have destroyed him too. He’d didn’t post him up because he perhaps didn’t feel like it. Let’s face it, Embiid could’ve done anything he wanted to do out there last night no matter who we put on him.
If you’re wondering what would have happened if Thompson was out there look no further than the box score of the last 2 games that we played against Philly and Therein lies your answer.
As for Fournier, in my opinion, we may have had something there if he plays. Maybe we win or at least have a better chance.
Rob made a lot of mistakes and didn’t help us much last night but I’m giving him a hall pass to the next class because I’m sure he learned something and will be better down the line. I’m not worried about Williams at all. I am concerned about our Stars with their numerous ghost impersonations and the terrible body language being displayed. It’s very concerning because they’ve been around awhile and have some cache’. No hall passes for them. Detention on the bench seems more fitting.

Ktron speaks truth.

Glimmer: Romeo

Chris Forsberg @ChrisForsberg_
about 3 hours ago
Danny Ainge on @Toucherandrich chalks Celtics’ league-leading COVID woes up to bad luck. Notes team’s strict protocols at facility. Also said team had been exploring ways to get vaccine for players that desire it but so far unsuccessful in MA.



Chris Grenham
Chris Grenham @chrisgrenham
about 3 hours ago
Danny Ainge tells @Toucherandrich that the Celtics have been trying to get something set up for the team to get vaccinated. Ainge: “Mike Zarren has been on the phone a lot”


Bob


.