The Boston Celtics faced off against the Philadelphia 76ers and lost miserably despite some spirited efforts by the deep bench late in the fourth. Hopefully, you spent your Friday night doing something more fun than watching this game.
Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum came off their best games together at the same time on Wednesday night against the Pacers when both of them scored 30+ on 61% shooting. They followed that effort up with one of the worst collective showings of the season in the first half. They combined for 10 turnovers in the first half, and they couldn’t buy a bucket either.
Dennis Schröder, the other 20-point scorer from Monday, didn’t help either, putting in as many points as he did flagrant fouls (1).
Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images
Robert Williams was the lone consistent bright spot among the starters, putting up 12 and 14 rebounds. Payton Pritchard was sensational off the bench, tossing in 17 points of his own on 70% shooting.
Brown finished with 21 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist on 39% shooting to go with 5 turnovers. Tatum put up 20 points, 11 rebounds, and 7 assists along with 7 turnovers. Only one of those turnovers came in the second half as Tatum started functioning as the point guard, and that’s when the Celtics offense looked even a little bit passable after the mess that was the first half.
Joel Embiid didn’t extend his streak of 30-point games, but he didn’t need to with Ime Udoka waving the white flag early in the fourth quarter. He finished with 25 points after a brief Pritchard resurgence forced him back in the game. Tyrese could have been a Celtic Maxey supported him with 23 points and 5 assists. Seth Curry and Tobias Harris each spaced the floor with 17 points each.
There’s nothing to really write about outside of the fact that the Celtics took a 10-4 lead early in the first quarter, gave up a 28-4 run, and lost the first quarter 32-14. Embarrassing stuff.
The 76ers didn’t even play that well, but right when their dysfunction would start to let the Celtics back in the game, the Celtics would one-up them in dysfunction. Ime Udoka waved the white flag with 9 minutes left in a 17-point game, and Payton Pritchard created a bunch of points that almost made things interesting. Romeo Langford had a 3-point shot go in-and-out which would have cut the lead to 12, but then Seth Curry and Tyrese Maxey came down to hit back-to-back 3-pointers.
This is one we’ll all want to forget.
The Celtics will certainly need a short memory as they take on the Chicago Bulls tomorrow night at 8:30 p.m. EST.
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For more postgame coverage of the blowout in Philly, tune into the the Garden Report Postgame Show LIVE on CLNS Media right after the game. Join A Sherrod Blakely, Bobby Manning, Josue Pavon, Jimmy Toscano and host John Zannis for a full breakdown. Plus, the guys will discuss this game’s putrid offense.
