By: Kylan Watson
The Philadelphia 76ers travelled to Boston to face off with the Celtics for the third time this season. Despite missing Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid because of illness, Philly continued to battle throughout this game. However, Boston executed better down the stretch and were able to outlast Philly 125-119.
The Sixers started this game off hot they were able to find the bottom of the net early in this game which put the Celtics on their heels early. They were able to erase an early deficit and have a three-point lead by half-time. More shots were available for everybody tonight in the absence of Joel Embiid (Non-covid illness) and Tyrese Maxey (Non-covid illness) and Patrick Beverley turned the clock back tonight. He scored 26-points, grabbed eight rebounds, had seven assists, and hit three/five three-pointers. He played aggressively tonight and forced the Celtics to shut him down, which they could not do tonight. Defensively he made things difficult for Jaylen Brown (20-points made eight/20 shots) and forced him to take shots from the perimeter which he could not make tonight. That kept the Sixers competitive tonight as they had to play a perfect game to keep up with the Celtics explosive offense.
Despite the scoring explosion from Beverley the Celtics were able to outexecute the shorthanded Sixers late in this contest. When the Celtics needed baskets late in this game Jaylen Brown finally came alive and was able to make some clutch lay-ups and find Peyton Pritchard wide open for the game winning lay-up to seal the deal tonight. Boston was able to take full advantage of players that really did not see as many extended minutes as they had tonight, and the communication was lacking on the defensive end. As they would routinely lose guys on the defensive end and that would result in easy buckets for them. That made the difference in tonight’s contest. The Celtics made the plays in the fourth quarter and the Sixers could not buy one late in the game and could not make Boston pay for their defensive mistakes.
Philly will now get a much needed four days off to get players healthy and get rid of this non-covid illness that is running through the team. They will faceoff with the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night, and it looks like if nothing else they will get Kelly Oubre back and should have Maxey and Embiid available as well. They will need to keep their ball movement going to maximize their offensive possessions and get high percentage shot opportunities like they did tonight. Additionally, the Sixers will need to stay attached to their man on the offensive end to limit the three-point effectiveness of the Wizards backcourt. If they can implement these things, they will be able to get their 13th victory of the season.
