Everything you need to know about the Boston Celtics 106-96 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, with BSJ insight and analysis.
Box Score
Boston needs to be perfect against the good teams. This game showed the gap between Boston and Philadelphia. Early on, when the Sixers were struggling to get some shots, they still managed to get some turnovers and stops. Boston never could get the stops once the Sixers shooters got going.
Philly is a contending team in a tight race at the top of the East. Boston is floating in that next pack of teams, hoping to ultimately settle into the fourth seed after the next couple of dozen games shake out.
Does that mean it’s impossible for Boston to beat the Sixers? No, but they need to be at full strength and they need to be on point. They’ll never win a game against one of the league’s best by turning it over 22 times.
Turnovers were a killer. It felt like the Celtics were trying to make passes that got through against other teams but didn’t quite make it against a good team like Philly, and then they got discouraged by it.
“We were loose with passes. We took too much of a gamble, too much of a risk, and it backfired,” Brad Stevens said. “You have to be sure with the ball against them because otherwise they get running in transition. And in the half court they’re hard enough to stop, but if you let them have runouts, it’s impossible."
Goodbye ball movement. With the turnovers piling up, the passes dried up, and the isolation play crept back into Boston’s offense.
“We need to do a better job of moving, cutting, getting better baskets. You can’t beat these guys in isolation. And they are very good pick-and-roll defenders because they are so long.”
It's easy to say but tough to do against a great team. This team especially will devolve into bad habits when things go wrong. It’s yet another reminder that when the going gets tough, they need to trust each other and make the right play.
TURNING POINT
The Celtics started getting sloppy with their doubling of Joel Embiid about halfway through the second quarter. That allowed Seth Curry and Danny Green to start getting better looks from deep. Boston’s early 3’s kept them alive in the first quarter, but Philly’s broke the game open in the second.
SECOND GUESSES
Putting Robert Williams back in the game with two fouls late in the first quarter was a big mistake. Brad Stevens tends to trust players in early foul trouble to play smart, but upfakes are to Williams what laser pointers are to cats. It was just too big of a risk to put Williams back in that situation.
And though the game was, I guess, technically still within reach late in the game, Stevens leaving his starters in late felt like a little too much desperation. There’s an equally important game tomorrow and, once this game got to 20 with about five minutes to go, that should have been the focus.
TOP PLAY
https://twitter.com/celtics/status/1379591874697068546
TWO UP
Luke Kornet: He was forced into action against Joel Embiid when Robert Williams left with foul trouble. He actually did alright for a while and hit a couple of 3-pointers in the process.
Tacko Fall: He actually seemed to impact Embiid’s desire to get to the rim. No one is going to pretend Fall is any kind of Embiid stopper, but he did stop the bleeding a little bit.
"Tacko did a really good job,” Jayson Tatum said. “Especially somebody in his situation where you just never know, never know exactly when you're going to play, but you always gotta be ready. And I think, for him, he did a really good job in the minutes that he played. So I was happy to see that. Hopefully he can build on that."
FIVE DOWN
Jayson Tatum: A tough shooting night for Tatum, who shot 7-17 and 3-10 from deep.
Jaylen Brown: Brown felt mostly absent in this game, even though he shot 6-10. He was quiet for a very long time offensively. He was not great defensively, either, getting bullied in the post and fouling often (he had 4)
Kemba Walker: Walker was pretty quiet too. Tatum, Brown, and Walker need to take more than 41 combined shots, especially when the only player who got close double figure field goal attempts was Marcus Smart, who took 9.
Marcus Smart: A 6 turnover game for Smart to go with just 3 assists. The ball was not popping tonight. Smart needs his assists to be up in the 7 or 8 or more range for Boston to win, especially in games against the elite teams.
Robert Williams: It’s just a matter of knowing the scouting report and having discipline. Embiid worked him by drawing cheap fouls and it clearly flustered Williams the rest of the game. He ultimately fouled out after playing just 14 minutes.
TWO TAKES KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER
This reopens the “should Robert Williams start” debate.
“Yeah Rob's got a lot of work on but, he's a guy that -- he'll get better,” Stevens said. “Embiid’s got all the tricks, and he takes advantage of every little bump. He did that to everybody on our team, not just Rob, but, if I had to guess, going into this game, Rob was probably gonna foul a few times in the first couple of minutes, which is just part of it. As much as we talk about it prior to the game, and he knows it, it's still different when you're out there guarding.”
Would Tristan Thompson have been better? Maybe, maybe not. But also, losing Thompson to foul trouble isn’t nearly as damaging. Without Williams on the floor, a key ball-swinger and backdoor-cut facilitator was off the floor.
Williams will, I believe, get better. But maybe there’s a different approach to be taken to maximize his talents in games like this.
This isn’t an easy conversation to have because Brad Stevens will want to be careful about Williams’ confidence. Also, we don’t want to overreact to one bad game. Boston needs Williams on the floor, and these are learning experiences. There’s just a lot to learn.
The Celtics needed more 3-pointers
This section is holding hands with the “too many turnovers” section. And I know you “live by the 3, die by the 3” folks are already going into the comments section to yell at me, but Boston shot 41.2% from deep and lost this game and that’s just unacceptable.
As far as I’m concerned, this game supports my point about the blueprint for this team:
- Make quick decisions with the ball
- Use the passing to fuel cuts and paint touches
- If a layup isn’t there, collapse the defense and kick the ball out for 3-pointers