By: Kylan Watson
After beating the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night, the Philadelphia 76ers faced the Boston Celtics for the first time in the 2024-25 NBA Regular Season. Both teams traded blows throughout this game, but thanks to a fourth quarter scoring explosion from Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, and Caleb Martin the Sixers were able to beat the Celtics 118-114. This is a statement victory for the Sixers who believe they can challenge and beat the Celtics in a playoff series.
For the first time this season the Sixers had a starting line-up anchored by Caleb Martin at the power forward position. His length and toughness were enormous difference makers in this contest. It bothered both Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown in this game which slowed down Boston’s explosive offense. That allowed Philly to keep the Celtics within arm’s reach throughout this contest. As a result, the Sixers were able to dominate most of this game against a Celtics squad that is usually imposing their will on their opponents.
Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid (27 points) both scored 18 points by half-time and continued to dominate in the second half. Maxey in particular scored 33 points (First Sixers player to score 30 points and have 10 assists on Christmas Day), had 12 assists, and made 3/9 of his three-point attempts in this contest. He made an impact on both sides of the court. Particularly in the fourth quarter where he went on a scoring rampage, which allowed both Embiid and George to focus on their defensive responsibilities in that period instead of scoring.
Additionally, Maxey has become one of the best defenders in the association and he proved it today by causing multiple turnovers in this contest from Tatum and Brown which resulted in easy scoring opportunities for the Sixers in this contest. That opened the floor for Caleb Martin who finally found his three-point stroke in this contest. He made 7 three-pointers (New franchise Christmas record) in this game (New season high) and scored 23 points in this contest. Throughout this contest Martin made Boston pay for giving him room to shoot in this contest and once he got going they could not stop him. This was the first time in franchise history that the Sixers have had three players who scored 20 plus points in the same game on Christmas Day.
Philly has been missing a role player who can consistently put points on the board since Jared McCain’s season ended because of a torn meniscus. Martin, using this game to become that guy for the Sixers would be a huge development. Despite being an undersized forward his ability to defend any position and ball handling were huge for the Sixers tonight and when he is hitting three-pointers it adds another dimension to Philly’s offensive and defensive schemes.
Boston continued to fight in this contest despite the scoring explosion from Maxey, Embiid, and Martin. They were able to cut Philly’s 16-point lead to four points in the fourth quarter. Thanks to Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid not being able to manage Boston’s defensive pressure and turning the ball over which led to easy baskets for them. Despite starting the game off slow both Tatum (32 points) and Brown (23 points) combined for 57 of Boston’s 114 points and they willed the Celtics back in a game that had gotten out of hand. Philly had no answers for them throughout that period, especially Brown who started attacking the basket and getting his defenders in foul trouble. Once he got it going it was hard for Philly to stop him.
However, the defense of Martin and Paul George did just enough to make it difficult for him and Tatum to hit their shots later in the fourth quarter. As a result, the Sixers were able to beat Boston thanks to a late in the shot clock lay-up by Maxey and four clutch free throws from Embiid and George to beat Boston in this contest. Also, this is the Sixers best win of the season.
On what beating Boston means and what they can improve on, “I think we got a high ceiling. It’s all about us pulling it together. I don’t think we played our best basketball, but Tyrese was great. I could’ve been better. PG could’ve been better and we will be better and then our bench was—Caleb gave us a good boost. The bench was great, but I don’t think that was our best basketball, but we got a pretty good chance so it’s all about waiting for some luck and staying healthy,” said Embiid.
The Sixers will now prepare for the West Coast portion of their six-game road trip as they prepare to face the Utah Jazz on Saturday night. The Sixers will need to play defense like they did tonight to prevent Lauri Markkanen from imposing his will on Saturday’s game. Forcing him to take well contested jump shots and getting the ball out of his hands should slow down Utah’s offense. Additionally, Philly must rebound as a team and hold the Jazz to one possession. They cannot afford to give the Jazz multiple opportunities to put points on the board and build their confidence.
Phill should also make it a priority to get Paul George involved early and often during this game against Utah. George is currently in a shooting slump and getting multiple high percentage shooting opportunities against Utah, should be a good formula for a breakout game for him. Implementing these things into the game plan should put the Sixers in a great position to win their 12th game of the season and extend their win streak to three games.
