By: Kylan Watson
After losing to the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday Afternoon, the Philadelphia 76ers renewed one of the best rivalries in sports facing off with the Boston Celtics for their final regular season matchup. The Sixers went blow for blow with the Celtics throughout most of this game, but a late Celtics fourth quarter explosion put them down in this game 117-99.
Unlike Sunday’s game the Sixers started this game off hot they made their first couple of shots, and kept up with one of the most explosive offenses in the league. Tyrese Maxey exorcised the Boston demon in this game he scored 32 points and made four/12 three-pointers in the contest. He made Boston pay for giving him any room to get a shot up. He abused his opposing defender by either rising up over their outstretched arms or crossing them up and using his speed to attack the basket. Maxey did not get much help in this game from his teammates but he can use this game as a confidence boost that he can have a good game against Boston if they meet-up in the postseason. The Celtics have been one of the few teams in the league with enough length to bother Maxey and seeing him torch one of the best defensive backcourts in the league was one of the few bright spots in this game. Unfortunately he did not get much help from his teammates who have continued to struggle to find their rhythm post All-Star Break and they will need to find it if they want to stay in a top five spot in the loaded Eastern Conference. Specifically Kelly Oubre Jr., Tobias Harris, and Buddy Hield cannot continue to struggle in the absence of Embiid. Nick Nurse has to get them going if they want to end these offensive struggles that they have been having when Maxey rests.
Despite the Maxey offensive explosion the Celtics were able to turn it on when they needed it and forced the Sixers into a combination of bad shots and turnovers that helped them pull-away in this contest. Boston’s length finally forced the Sixers to take harder shots that would not fall and it took them until the eight minute mark of the third quarter to get their first score of the second-half. Philly did make a late run to cut the Celtics double digit lead to two-points, but Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown refused to let their team lose this game combining for 60 of Boston’s 117 points. Their clutch shot making late in this game pushed Boston over the finish line and helped them win their ninth straight game in TD Garden.
The Sixers will now prepare to face the Charlotte Hornets on Friday Night, if they want to turn things around they must cash in on the high-percentage shot opportunities created off their ball movement. Like they did in this game and find some way to get somebody to help Maxey out so opposing defenses do not key in on him. Additionally, the Sixers will need to play better perimeter defense than they did in this game, if they want to beat a struggling Hornets squad and get their 34th victory of the season.