RECAP: Boston Celtics 102, Philadelphia 76ers 92
By Luke Swiatek
The Philadelphia 76ers fought back and forth, but ultimately couldn’t hold onto the lead against another premier Eastern Conference rival.
J.J. REDICK. B+. 36 min | 19 pts | 0 reb | 4 ast | 0 stl | 0 blk | 0 TO | 7-16 FG | 4-7 3PT | 1-1 FT | 1 PF | -19 +/- | Summary: Keep on shooting, J.J. Maybe try and get at least one rebound though?<p class=. SG. Philadelphia 76ers
Philadelphia 76ers. JERRYD BAYLESS. B+. 29 min | 18 pts | 1 reb | 1 ast | 1 stl | 0 blk | 0 TO | 7-12 FG | 4-6 3PT | 0-0 FT | 4 PF | -8 +/- | Summary: The fact that Bayless and Redick finished with no turnovers in a game where the Sixers had 16 is pretty impressive. Shooting a combined 8 for 15 is also impressive. These two and Covington are really making life easier for Simmons and Embiid down low.<p class=. PG
BEN SIMMONS. B-. 37 min | 11 pts | 11 reb | 5 ast | 1 stl | 0 blk | 4 TO | 4-11 FG | 0-0 3PT | 3-6 FT | 2 PF | -7 +/- | Summary: Last year <a rel=. PF. Philadelphia 76ers
C. Philadelphia 76ers. JOEL EMBIID. C-. 28 min | 11 pts | 14 reb | 3 ast | 1 stl | 2 blk | 3 TO | 4-16 FG | 0-6 3PT | 3-3 FT | 1 PF | -4 +/- | Summary: This was about as bad as I’ve ever seen Embiid play on offense. He was passing up wide open shots sometimes, and then forcing up contested ones at other times. Yet I still can’t overlook his fantastic defense and rebounding, keeping his grade still somewhat average.
D-. 24 min | 9 pts | 10 reb | 2 ast | 0 stl | 1 blk | 6 TO | 4-10 FG | 0-4 3PT | 1-2 FT | 5 PF | +2 +/- | Summary: Through two games, Dario is not exactly making a case for Sixth Man of the Year as some predicted. Good rebounding I guess, but six turnovers in 24 minutes is simply unacceptable.. PF. Philadelphia 76ers. DARIO SARIC
This game was painful to watch. An average NBA game has 20 fouls, but this one had 31 in the first half alone. It really killed the flow of the game.
Complaints against the refs aside, this one felt very winnable. The 76ers had the lead for much of the third quarter, and let such illustrious names as Jabari Bird and Shane Larkin help mount a comeback.
Our defense is, to put it bluntly, very not good. Not even “not very good,” they are actively “very not good.” Embiid and Covington individually are pretty good on that end, but as a team we can’t really seem to stop a nosebleed so far.
I can’t remember the last time I saw one of our players fight to get around a screen. We die on them like an overmatched soldier falling on his own sword. Aron Baynes – he with the pitiful man bun – is not worthy of such respect.
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I know midrange pull-up jumpers are among the least efficient shots in the game, but we make them almost impossible to miss. When Markelle Fultz stays stuck on the screener and Amir Johnson drops down into the lane, it’s a wide-open 15-footer all day. Maybe some players will miss that, but you gotta know Kyrie Irving is going to hit that shot nine times out of ten.
If it was an isolated incident, I’d feel a bit more reassured. But with the exception of the always-gritty T.J. McConnell it’s team-wide. Either that’s a scheme choice by Brett Brown, or just no one cares, and I’m unsure which is worse.
There were some silver linings. Simmons played pretty much how one would expect a rookie like him to play: inefficient scoring, high turnovers, but so many flashes of potential. The team was also in the game right until the end despite Embiid playing horribly on offense. It’s good to know that other guys can carry the scoring load if need be.
On a more administrative note, I won’t be doing every recap for our lovely website, despite the fact that I have up until this point. I am – believe it or not – a man with (somewhat) of a life other than writing about the 76ers, so life would dictate that I surely won’t be watching and recapping all 82 (hopefully 82-plus) games this year.
I am sure you’ll miss me and my analogies comparing the 76ers defense to harikari, but fear not; TSS has a deep and talented roster and you probably won’t even notice who’s doing the writing. I am essentially the Nick Young to this website’s Golden State.
That’s enough analogies for one night. Tune in tomorrow night to see us play the Toronto Raptors (thanks a lot, NBA schedule makers).
Next: Joel Embiid should play back-to-backs