BSJ Game Report: Sixers 102, Celtics 100 - Offense, late execution, fails Celtics in another tight loss

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

IN A NUTSHELL

The benched helped save a tough quarter for Boston to send them into the second down one. Nothing could save them from ice-cold shooting that left them down 10 at the half. The offense arrived in the 3rd, which Boston won by 16. Anfernee Simons got hot but Justin Edwards got hotter and the Celtics once again gave up a killer late offensive rebound to lose by one possession. 

Box Score

HEADLINES

- Shooting … again: The first quarter shooting was tough, the second quarter shooting was the worst we’ve seen in the league this season, and the fourth quarter shooting outside of Simons just wasn’t good enough. They say this is a make/miss league, and hoo boy did that ever apply to the Celtics. 

- Rebounding … again: This one wasn’t about the volume of offensive rebounds and second chance points, but the timing of them. Boston actually did a good job for most of the game, but when it mattered most, they gave up the game-winning basket on a putback by Kelly Oubre. 

It didn’t take a million arrows to kill Achilles, just the one that hit his heel. 

- Late-game execution … again: The Celtics have looked a little lost in some of these late-game situations, and it happened again on the last possession. Between the misses, the missed defensive/rebounding assignments, and the shakiness in some final possessions, I’m not very confident in Boston going into crunch time with a lead. 

TURNING POINT

Justin Edwards hit three-straight 3-pointers to turn a 92-84 Boston lead to a 93-92 Sixers lead. The Sixers closed the game 18-8 after that eight-point Boston lead. 

THINGS I LIKED

- Jordan Walsh: He started the second half and once again was in the game to close it out. He was tremendous against Tyrese Maxey defensively, holding Maxey to four points over the final six minutes of the fourth. After Josh Minott’s recent stretch of good play, I said this is what the Celtics hoped Walsh would become, and now Walsh has actually become that and Minott is sitting. 

His 29 minutes were a career-high.

- The third quarter: I felt like the Celtics played with a different kind of energy and purpose for that quarter. I expected that to carry over more into the fourth quarter. At least we know they have it in them, now we need to see it more consistently. 

- Neemias Queta: I didn’t like the 3-pointer or the off-the-dribble pull-up he took, but he’s working hard, crashing the boards, and finishing around the rim. He’s improving his consistency. Also, this sequence was great: 

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE

- Missed opportunities: I’ll get into this more separately, but the Celtics are showing themselves to be good enough to create some good opportunities, but not good enough to finish those off. Getting blocked in transition, missing passes by a half second, or not seeing the next right play is killing them. 

- Josh Minott: I don’t know what happened to him, but he went from story of the early season to Joe Mazzulla’s dog house. When asked what the communication with Minott about his playing time, Mazzulla simply said, “that’s between me and Josh.” 

Hmmm. 

- Payton Pritchard: He’s having a rough time of things right now. I’m curious to see if he continues to start or another change is made at some point. Twelve games is way too early to make that determination, but I always pegged December as the time watch for any potential switch. 

- Sam Hauser: He did play some nice defense and he was +5 on the night, but 1-4 from 3 won’t cut it. 

- Jaylen Brown and Derrick White: I’m putting them together at the end of this section because both did good things in the third quarter and in some other spots, but both shoulder a heft portion of the blame, too. A combined 15-38 shooting (39.5%) isn’t good enough. 

HIGHLIGHTS

THREE TAKES KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- Moving on quickly is an essential skill, especially right now. 

Here’s Brown explaining the game-winning putback:

“Maxey was driving, he turned his back, I thought I could go make a play. I was guarding (Edwards), I thought that if I went to make a play that there wouldn’t be enough time for them to get a shot off, but ended up leaving (Edwards) wide open for three. And then was kind of like, f---, and then Oubre kind of slipped behind me for an easy offensive rebound. Got caught ball-watching. You just gotta get in there and get in the fight.” 

That's it right there. That's where letting things linger, even for a second, kills your chances of winning. Because instead of going from swearing at yourself to finding a way to make a play, Brown just watched the flight of the ball without putting a body on someone. 

Life moves fast in the NBA, and luck plays a big role in some of these wins and losses. That was a lucky miss but Brown didn’t move on from the mistake, and he ended up compounding it.

- Missed layups are killers

So many people love to focus on 3-pointers as a problem with the offense, but no one really wants to take a look at how damaging missed layups are. 

Contested shots around the restricted area are accepted as fine because “at least they're going to the basket,” but the reality is that those misses often lead to makes on the other end. That burned the Celtics a few times in this game. 

- I like the uniforms. 

I see people up in arms about them not having any green in them, which is a first for the Celtics. I think they look great. 

I’m all for tradition and history, but it’s 2025 and it’s a city edition jersey. There is plenty of green being worn all season, so there's no reason, in my opinion, to be upset about this particular look. City editions have been used to get creative around the league, with some hits and some misses. 

These keep the entire aesthetic in place except for the color green. They’ve used gold often enough, and if you haven't noticed, the vest on Lucky at the center court logo has been gold for a long time. So I don’t think this color scheme comes out of nowhere. 

Next Up: The Celtics host Memphis on a back-to-back tomorrow night