BSJ Daily Briefing 12.26.18: Kyrie to the rescue against sloppy Sixers, Patriots get back at it

Good morning!

• Celtics continued their domination of the Sixers on Christmas night with a much-needed win at the Garden, an arena that has become a host of horrors for Philly. They have dropped nine of their last 11 games against Boston and followed a similar theme of crunch time woes even with a new piece in Jimmy Butler. C's fans should be rooting for this one as a playoff matchup in the second round, since it's best draw for Boston.


• With that said, C's are going to need Aron Baynes for that series. It would be very hard for Al Horford to hold up by himself against Embiid for a seven-game series and Boston has no one else they can throw at him reliably.


• Encouraging minutes from Terry Rozier off the bench last night in the fourth quarter, which earned him unprompted praise from Brad Stevens after the game.


• Still trying to figure out what got Marcus Smart so worked up to blow his fuse in overtime against Simmons while boxing him out. He needs to be smarter than that. Good on Stevens for benching him the rest of the way.


• Pats are back at it in Foxborough today as they begin preparations to ensure they get a much needed first round bye. The Jets have been frisky in recent weeks though so it will be interesting to see if they put up more a fight than the Bills did at Gillette.