BSJ Game Report: Sixers 118, Celtics 114 - C's defense shows up too late, wild rally falls short

Everything you need to know about the Celtics loss to the Sixers, with BSJ insight and analysis

IN A NUTSHELL

Turnovers were a problem again, with six in the first quarter leading to nine Sixers points and a five-point deficit after one. Boston’s defense was non-existent in the second quarter and the C’s fell behind by 16 before an 11-point outburst from Jayson Tatum to cut it to eight at the half. Jaylen Brown’s 14 points in the third helped erase that and go into the fourth tied at 82. Tyrese Maxey started the fourth quarter hot and Caleb Martin couldn't miss, and it all led to Boston’s first losing streak of the season.

Box Score

HEADLINES

- Defensive issues: The Celtics went more than 44 minutes without a steal in this game. They ramped up the defense over the final few minutes to give themselves a chance to win, but it was too little, too late. Their defense has been an issue from the beginning of the season and now that their shooting is leveling off, the defensive issues are being exposed.

Maxey did whatever he wanted on his way to 33 points on 12-23 shooting. Tack on 12 assists and he was responsible for more than half of Philadelphia’s points. 

- Kristaps Porzingis hurt: He tweaked his left ankle early in the game. 

He finished the first half but never came out after halftime. His left ankle was taped when he left the arena, but he walked out under his own power, albeit a little gingerly. The team had no other update. 

Jrue Holiday also missed the game with a shoulder impingement.

- Caleb Martin loves playing Boston: Martin has shot 40% or better on six or more 3-point attempts 25 times in his career. Tonight was the ninth time he’s done it vs. Boston. He’s done it twice against Detroit, and never more than once against anyone else. 

Bump the percentage up to 50% and he’s victimized Boston five times, and no one else more than once. I don’t know why he loves playing Boston so much, but he shot 7-9 from deep in this game, even banking one home, to kill the Celtics. He’s a career 35% 3-point shooter who came into this game shooting 30.5%, but somehow he’s shooting 45.2% against Boston in his career and 47.8% at TD Garden. 

TURNING POINT 

The Sixers started the fourth quarter 23-8, to turn a tie game into a 105-90 lead with 5:48 to go. The Celtics made their big run to give themselves a chance, but the lead was too big. 

THINGS I LIKED

- The comeback: The Celtics outscored Philly 24-13 over the final 5:09. They had six assists on nine makes, three steals, and a block. That was Celtics basketball in a nutshell, and proof that they have it in them to do what they need to do. They just have to do it.

- Al Horford: He was a +22 in a four-point loss. He shot 5-10 from deep, including a hot start to the game where he and Porzingis were responsible for all the Boston points when no one else was hitting. He did it all while drawing the tough assignment of guarding Joel Embiid.

- Jayson Tatum: He put up 32 points on 11-20 shooting while grabbing 15 rebounds in 42 minutes. He played the whole second half after missing the Orlando game with an illness, which was a tough ask. 

“Let’s just say I’ve lost a lot of fluids over the last two days,” Tatum said. “So (I was) maybe a little fatigued, I guess, from being sick the last few days, but I’m just trying to push through it, catch my second wind, things like that.”

There were times when that definitely looked to be the case. He wasn’t always at his best, but he was Boston’s most consistent scoring option.

- Derrick White: It was not his typical game, but he needed an 8-15 shooting night and a 5-10 night from 3. 

- Jaylen Brown’s second half: 21 points after the break on 9-15 shooting (3-5 3pt), three rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Tatum was a major reason why the early 15-point lead was only eight at the half, and Brown was the major reason why Boston erased it completely heading into the fourth quarter.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE

- Jaylen Brown’s first half: Just two points on 1-8 shooting with four turnovers. Gross. 

“The rhythm of the game was a little bit different in the first half,” he said. “We had a bad start to the game. It was just slower, had some ill-advised turnovers, stepped out of bounds off the jump ball, that kind of slowed us down a little bit. But second half was able to be more aggressive, get out, find spacing, and play basketball.”

- The lack of defense: This is the theme of the night. More on this separately, but this is a problem for Boston right now. 

- Payton Pritchard: Four points on 1-9 shooting and 0-8 from 3. I’m not going to say the early-season magic has gone away, but the light is flickering a little bit. A part of me thinks Pritchard is trying to do too much, but I have to take a closer look at this because I don’t want to be a make/miss prisoner. 

- The bench in general: I don’t want to be disrespectful to Guerschon Yabusele, who has been consistently good for Philadelphia, but there's no way he should be matching the entire Boston bench with 12 points. Sam Hauser only getting one field goal attempt and then getting torched by Maxey was a disaster. Luke Kornet was okay and Neemias Queta gave them some decent minutes, but Boston needs someone to score points. Pritchard and Hauser have to be those guys.

HIGHLIGHTS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- We might be seeing some regression to the mean. 

Pritchard 3-19 from 3 over his last three games. That follows a four-game stretch where he was 22-46. Pritchard has been enjoying the best shooting season of his career, so he was probably due for a little bit of a step back. 

It happens, and for some reason, it tends to happen to a lot of people at the same time. I’m not worried about the shooting going away for too long … that happens. I am concerned that the shooting dip has exposed Boston’s defensive effort issues. They aren’t as able to shoot their way past teams like they were earlier this season. They had been getting away with some slacking earlier in the season and now they're not. 

And I fully realize that I’m saying this on a night they shot 40% from 3, but the bench was 0-9 and it took a little while for Brown to get going. The Celtics need their defense to be on point so they can survive bad stretches and bad individual performances. 

Next up: The Celtics host the Pacers on Friday night, the first to two consecutive games against Indiana this weekend.