2022-2023 POST GAME PHILLY 76'ERS - AWAY

Celtics Wrap: Joel Embiid Solidifies MVP Case In Win Over Boston
Embiid was absurd

NESN by Keagan Stiefel

The Boston Celtics dropped a close one Tuesday night, leaving Wells Fargo Center with a 103-101 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.

The C’s fell to 54-25, while the Sixers improved to 52-27.

ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
In case you’re unaware, it is often said that basketball is a game of runs.

That classic cliché was on full display Tuesday night in Philly, as the Celtics and 76ers took part in what was basically a matchup between Joel Embiid and Boston’s entire roster.

Embiid did everything possible to help make this one a laugher. The Sixers, for some odd reason, couldn’t pull away, however. The Celtics entered the game shorthanded and struggled to find consistent scoring throughout the contest, but the likes of Jayson Tatum, Al Horford and Malcolm Brogdon all stepped up on the offensive end to hit big shots and keep Boston within striking distance.

The C’s entered the final frame down five points, electing to play Blake Griffin as a way to provide some missing physicality and help Boston climb back into the game. As Embiid sat through the first four minutes of the stanza, Philadelphia fell into another hole. When he came back in, it went on a run to retake the lead. His presence in the lineup pretty much killed all of Boston’s momentum and helped the Sixers ride this one out to victory.

STARS OF THE GAME
— Embiid put up the numbers you would expect from the NBA MVP favorite at most major sportsbooks, finishing with 52 points, 13 rebounds, six assists and two blocks.

— Derrick White continued to be the most consistent player in Boston’s rotation. The 28-year-old finished with 26 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two blocks.

— P.J. Tucker, who literally never shoots the basketball, knocked down three huge three-point shots in the fourth quarter to seal this win. He finished with 11 points and two rebounds.

WAGER WATCH
White was given -125 odds to surpass 19.5 total points, rebounds and assists by DraftKings Sportsbook pregame. He only needed the points, netting a $180 payout for $100 bettors.

UP NEXT
The Celtics will head back to TD Garden to play host to the Raptors on Wednesday, starting a two-game home series against Toronto. Tipoff on the second night of the back-to-back is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.

112288

Fun game to watch. Celts knew that the result will have little impact. Played at 90% effort. I don’t mind.

In my eyes Smart has fallen to #3 in guard rotation. Swiss Army Knife (White) and Brogdon have moved ahead of him.

We need to win one of the two against Toronto to lock up #2 overall seed. Can’t wait for the playoffs to start.

Even before the game we were pretty much locked into the 2 seed, now it is almost definite. Resting Jaylen and Rob was smart. I fully expect Tatum to be out tonite, along with Al. Hopefully the last two games we can play the whole bench. Actually I thought we played well last night. D White was just fantastic. If he can play at this level in the playoffs, it would be huge. Embiid was great last night, but he's not going to hit all those mid range and fadeaways every night. This game was a good tune up for the playoffs.

It took Embiid’s best (yes he was terrific), and Tucker hitting his open 3s down the stretch when the Celtics double teamed Embiid, and Al missing most of his threes when Tatum was doubled down the stretch, and no JB and Time Lord. Harden is such a bum; I feel bad for Embiid having to rely on him as the other star on the team.

I thought that it was a mistake to double Embid.  No way PJ should get 3 wide open looks.  

Blake should not be playing behind Kornet (the cowardly lion) nor, I had one too many shots of Muscala.

Both Brogdon and White played great basketball.  There is a reason why Smart is open for so many 3 point shots.  Teams want him to take them.

Notwithstanding last night's result, the Sixers are not as good as the Celtics.

I would not be feeling very good this morning if I was a Sixer fan.  I could probably say that everyday I woke up a Sixers fan but this morning, in particular, I'd be unhappy.  They squeaked out a 2 point victory, at home, fully healthy, against a team they will likely be playing in a couple of weeks in the 2nd round of the playoffs, and we were down an All-Star (All-NBA?) player and one of our top defensive players.  They should have blown us out and I fully expect them to acknowledge this in the Comments From The Other Side thread.  They are, after all, Sixer fans and will be even more brutal on their own team than anybody else's.

If the league wanted this to be a defining moment between two of the top contenders for MVP, and the refs sure called it that way, then Embiid wins it.  He played about as close to a flawless game as you can.  52 points on 20-25 is about as good as humanly possible.  He took 11 ftas.  My early game prediction was for 16 but when he already had 6 with half the 1st left I upped that to 20.  The reason why he didn't get as many trips to the line is because the refs were letting him do whatever he wanted.  Grant got popped in the mouth, absolutely no doubt about it, and no whistle.  Grant mouths off, because that's what Grant does, later when we don't get a whistle and gets T'd up.  If he played for Doc he'd get benched for that.  We all know that Doc had a "no Ts in the 4th" rule.  Instead it might be Tyrese Maxey that gets benched.  Doc was walking out onto the floor at every break and talking to him all game and they sure didn't look like "THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" pep talks.  No "it's ok, let's move forward" slaps on the ass, no "good job" pats on the shoulder, just a Philly Cheesesteak on the flat grill of the finest sirloin Maxey, coated with caramelized playoff disappointments and smothered under dripping, gooey Philly fans' tears.

Joel Embiid, 20-25, 80%.  The rest of the Sixers team, 19-53, 35.8%.  Read it and weep, Sixers fans.  As was pointed out on the Game On! thread by Ktron the Wells Fargo Arena was like as quiet as a wake (apparently Ktron has never been to an Irish Wake   ).  The Process, which was years of not just years of losing but years of deliberate bottom-feeding losing, gave them #1 pick Ben Simmons, #1 pick Markelle Fultz and #3 Joel Embiid.  All that is left of that now is Embiid and the corpse of James Harden.  So it really is a wake.

Both teams shot 16 ftas.  Embiid hit 10 of his 11.  The Celtics hit 10 of our 16.  We're shooting 81.5% from the line as a team, good for 4th.  If we had shot our average we'd have had 13 points on those 16 ftas, good enough to win.  We can't blame the refs for that.  85.5% Tatum 3-5, Smart 1-3 (WTF!?) and 87% shooter Brogdon 2-4.  But that's how close this undermanned Celtic team was from winning.  We just had to hit our fritos no better, but no worse, than we have all season.

Another reason for Sixer fans to be hating life today?  Al Horford, the player they reviled and drove from their midst, 11 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists and zero turnovers.  My beef with Al is that he shot 4-12, 3-10 from 3.  3-10, Al, 3-10.  I realize he's shooting 44% on the season but it would have been nice if he shot 4-10 last night, which is still below his average, because that would have won the game for us.  In his last 10 games he has shot 24-58, 41.4%, so I can't complain overall but 3-10 last night hurt.  However, he had 3 offensive rebounds.  Blake had 2 O-boards and Luke had 2.  In fact, we had 13 O-boards total vs 6 for them.  If I was a Sixer fan this would bother me, significantly.

Derrick has been our "Steady Eddie".  Both ends.  On a mediocre night by the only J playing he scored 26 points on 9-18, 4-10 from 3, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 TOs and 2 blocks.  Remember that thread from yesterday that extolled White's defense and how he could be considered for an All-Defensive team because he leads the league in blocks for players under 6'7" by a wide margin?  Well, throw two more onto that pile.  He also guarded Harden a lot, as did Smart.  The combination of recurring injuries to RWill and the ascendancy of Derrick White is why Joe has moved away from the double-bigs Twin Tower starting lineup of the beginning of the year.  He's peaking at just the right time for us.

15 fast break points for us vs 0 for them.  15-0.  At this point Sixer fans are pondering whether life is ever going to get better.  Hmm, probably not.

All in all I'm as happy with last night's game as I can be with a loss for all the reasons I cited at the top.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401469336




Bob


.

After talking to myself for several minutes last night, coming close to shutting down my computer, AGAIN I realized I was on the wrong site!!! Celtic Tidbits has a load of me talking to myself on there! Anyway, I kept wondering why oh why Blake was not in that game. Kornet just does not do it for me in a tight game like that. We needed a bull and that is what Griffin is. Derrick White? What else can we say about him, I just loved that kid and what he does for this team, Brogden played some real good minutes out there. I just hate talking about referee's, it sounds like crybabying, but please, call it even will you. Embid was a bull in a china shop yesterday, he pushed Tatum off the floor twice, got away with it, Grant also. But stupid Grant had his jaw jacking and ended up with a tech again. Does this kid not get it, he really believes he is doing his team a favor by complaining. Tiring of it, and he wonders why he was benched???? All in all, as I said last night, Doc cannot feel comfortable about winning that game last night. His "team" was terrible, Embid was alone out there, without him they would have lost by 30. Onto the next game, this one is over, I am sorry they lost, I would have liked for them to steal this one right from under the 76er's noses, but...not to be. Tonight is another night, what are the chances Jayson sits tonight?

Not sure what this game has done, even though it was basically almost worthless. But it did give a team with fast-fading hope some hope. The door is cracked just a little bit. It may not be a big deal, but it could be now.

Yeah, it's hard to sweep a team 4 times during the regular season. But PHI could go on a tear from this. Yes, we weren't fully stocked and would have crushed them yet again had we had everyone present. We will be in their way.

Make no mistake. PHI has to AT LEAST get the the ECF this year. Period. Otherwise Armageddon is coming to Philly. And we just innocuously gave them an oxygen tank. Unfortunately for PHI, it was one of the oxygen tanks littered up and down Mt. Everest. False hope. It's coming. Top to bottom. The timing of my prediction on all this was off by a year. Oh well. My bad. It will just now be a much larger detonation taking out everyone in its wake.

Correctly pointed out above, we still need to win one game over the next three to secure 2nd place. We own the tiebreak vs. PHI. We don't want to limp into the playoffs either. Just leaves a bad taste in ones mouth.

And also inferred above, White and Brogden are going to have to be huge for us in the playoffs if we are going to bring home Banner 18 and I can finally change my avatar!!

One more B2B tonight vs. TOR! Let's play!

db

Souichi Terada @SouichiTerada
yesterday
Marcus Smart revealed he played with a pinched nerve Tuesday against the Sixers: "Can barely turn my head to the left and it’s just stinging. My lower left arm is going numb here and there, so just trying to play through it and be out there for my team."


Steve Bulpett @SteveBHoop
yesterday
From the Sultan of Stat, Dick Lipe... after @JoelEmbiid goes for 52 points (20-25 FG), 13 rebounds and 6 assists in Philly's 103-101 victory over the @Celtics: "Only player in NBA history with 50+ pts, 13+ reb, 6+ ast and .800+ fg pct in a game before tonight was Wilt -- twice."


Bob

.