BSJ Game Report: Celtics 114, Sixers 106 - Payton Pritchard steals the show after nice Porzingis debut

Everything you need to know about the Celtics win over the Sixers in their preseason debut, in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis. 

IN A NUTSHELL

The Celtics looked sloppy on both ends of the floor, shooting poorly, turning it over, and giving up clean looks to the Sixers (mostly Tyrese Maxey). But Kristaps Porzingis started strong and Payton Pritchard shot them back into the game early in the second. They hung around thanks to some aggressive play. Jaylen Brown’s big run at the end of the third quarter gave the Celtics a lead when all the regulars were pulled. The fourth belonged to Payton Pritchard, and his 16 point explosion got the crowd very hyped as the Celtics held on. 

Box Score

TAKEAWAYS: 

They really made an effort to get Porzingis involved: The box score will show seven shots, but Porzingis also got to the line eight times and they ran the offense through him in the high post a few times. It seemed like Jayson Tatum was really looking for Porzingis, and Porzingis answered with a very nice preseason debut. 

The defense is obviously a work in progress: The drop coverage on pick-and-rolls is going to be a staple of the Celtics defense but I think the bigs can be a little bit higher. Porzingis was way back and it let Maxey get cooking early. The Celtics can’t let good players walk into warm-up shots. 

Rebounding might be an issue: The Celtics really struggled to keep Philly off the boards. We knew coming into the season that the moves Boston made would put pressure on everyone to rebound. I’d say they failed the first test. 

Jaylen Brown’s handles might still be an issue: I’m not going to overreact to one game, but … whew … there's nothing about tonight that makes me feel like his ball handling has gotten any better in the offseason. Of course, that can change and he did have an otherwise good game, but it’s the one thing that everyone is watching and it didn’t look good. 

Payton Pritchard made a strong case: He not only led the Celtics in scoring, he hit a big half-court shot that turned into a four-point play, he keyed a second-quarter run that got Boston back into the game, and his 16-point fourth-quarter explosion drew MVP chants.

“It’s Payton being Payton,” new Celtics Jrue Holiday said. “I think everybody here knows that he can play. No matter if it's a preseason game, if it's game  82, Payton is going to go out there and do him. He can score his ass off so it’s fun to watch him play.”

Pritchard closed a four-year, $30 million extension before the game. It’s a long-term commitment that helps Pritchard feel comfortable. 

“It feels really good,” Pritchard said. “Just to be secure, lock it in and be a part of a great organization, a great city. Obviously, I think this is the best basketball organization and city in the NBA. It feels good."

Other notables:

- Tatum had a rough shooting night. He shot 3-13 overall, 0-4 from 3. He did have 10 rebounds and 5 assists.

“I thought he went downhill with force," Mazzulla said. "And so he's doing a great job of just understanding where he's going, what spots he's gonna get to at different spots of the game, and as long as he does it with physicality and be ready to make the right play.”

- Al Horford didn't put up big numbers but he was very active and looked very spry. He looked very much like the Horford of last season. 

- Holiday came off the bench, which does not signify anything.

“He came like, the day before practice so I think that played a part into it,” Mazzulla said. “The preseason is being able to just experiment with different lineups, and our guys are open minded. They're ready to play together, they're ready to sacrifice, they're ready to do whatever it takes to win. And so it's going to be a bunch of different lineups, especially during the preseason. And then we'll be able to keep that open mind and that flexibility throughout the year.”

I think Holiday looked fine in 21 minutes. He hit a couple of 3-pointers, made a couple of nice defensive plays, but also made a few mistakes. 

“It felt good,” he said. “Crowd was crazy, energy in the building was crazy for a first preseason game. It was fun to get out there and kind of get my feet wet.”

- There's no stated plan for tomorrow night’s game in New York as far as who is playing and who isn’t. I’m going to guess any of the regulars who might play tomorrow will be very limited. I don’t expect to see Porzingis or Horford. We might see a little bit of Holiday just to get him some more reps. But we’ll see some weird combinations regardless. 

HERE ARE SOME HIGHLIGHTS