Final: Celtics 130, Sixers 79 - C's absolutely dismantle Sixers for 9th straight win

GAME 58
Boston Celtics (33-25, 13-15 road, 6th East) vs. Philadelphia 76ers (34-22, 16-12 home, T-4th East)
Wells Fargo Center
7:30 PM - TNT

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS

Boston: Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Grant Williams, Al Horford

Philadelphia: Tyrese Maxey, Danny Green, Matisse Thybulle, Tobias Harris, Joel Embiid

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

- Robert Williams is out tonight with tightness in his right calf. “Had some tightness in his calf — right calf — this morning. Didn't feel really anything after the game, but built up a little over the last few days and felt worse this morning,” Ime Udoka said. “Hopefully it's nothing serious, obviously. We've got a game tomorrow and see what he looks like tomorrow and go from there.”

- Smart was originally listed as questionable with a non-COVID illness but he will play tonight. 

- James Harden (hamstring) is out tonight for Philadelphia

- Boston is favored by 2

THREE THINGS TO WATCH FOR 

1. Disciplined defense against Joel Embiid: Not having a shot-blocker like Robert Williams in the game certainly hurts Boston, but Horford’s strength and smarts against Embiid is where the plan starts. 

But beyond that, the Celtics are going to have to keep Embiid on his toes. 

“It’s keeping guys off balance. You can’t give them a steady look of one thing,” Udoka said. “It’s reads at times; if a guy’s in a bad spot, you want to go after him and make him make a play and everybody has to be on-point rotation-wise behind it. And out of timeouts, or whatever the case may be, if something’s hurting us, we’ll just be in certain packages as well, going after guys. And so, a lot of it has to do with the personnel on the court at the time.

“For us and the opponent, and I think for a guy like (Nikola) Jokic, who is a really good passer, you want to force him to score at time, like we did. And then you want to go after him at times. And so, that’s the trick with Joel, to understand when he gets it going, how to take it out of his hands and make others try to beat you. But at the same time, he has improved as a passer and he trusts those guys playing off of him.”

Boston has been most successful against Embiid playing him straight up, digging down with the guards, and mixing in a late double team from time to time.

2. How effective is Daniel Theis? He’ll get some run against the Sixers tonight. 

“It's been a month or so since he's really played and so I want to be conscious of that and the fact that it's a back to back,” Udoka said, referencing tomorrow’s game against Detroit. “Prefer to keep him in the 15-20 minute range and see how he copes with that. But depends on the Rob situation going forward tomorrow and Al's situation tonight with the heavy minutes and so we'll take all that into account.”

How much run can Theis handle? How winded will he get and how quickly can he recover? Will his jump shots fall short? Will the old continuity with his former teammates bail him out? 

There are a lot of questions that can impact how effective he is tonight. 

“It takes you a little bit to get back into game shape,” he said. “You can workout, you can lift, you can do whatever, but as soon as you are out there in a game, it’s a whole different story.”

3. Focus on ball movement: I’m going to keep this one here because so much of what Boston is able to accomplish offensively depends on moving the ball and making quick decisions. 

“For Jaylen and Jayson, it’s a balancing act because they are really good scorers and they can take advantage of certain matchups,” Udoka said. “When teams like that are switching, we’re hoping to take advantage of that. It’s not the same case with everybody, but we still want them to understand when they have the matchup, to attack it. But also realize that teams aren’t just going to give them that one-on-one matchup …

“From there, it’s just making the right reads. So it’s a balance there and I think all of our guys’ numbers show and the film shows and we see it, that they’re all trying to adapt to what we’re asking of them. I think over the last 15 games since we played Philadelphia last time, our assist numbers have gone up drastically – I think eighth in the league overall in the last 15 games. And so, a big part of it is ball movement, but obviously you’ve got to make the shots behind it.”

Trust in teammates goes a long way. The last time these teams played, Boston settled for jump shots because they ceded the paint to Embiid and his ability to protect the rim. This time, they need to move the ball and force Embiid to defend beyond a few feet in the restricted area. Make him make decisions and force him to make spectacular plays. He will certainly make one or two, but just like you have to sacrifice a pawn or two to win a chess game, attacking making the right play but getting blocked once or twice early is necessary to wearing Embiid out later in the game. 

GAME THREAD

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