Let's be honest, this first round playoff series between the Celtics and the Sixers should not be a long one. After Ben Simmons went down with a knee injury last week, you knew that Philadelphia's days in the Disney World bubble were limited. Of course, Boston wasn't complaining since they earned the third seed in the Eastern Conference and the 76ers dropped down to the sixth seed so these rivals would meet right away rather than deeper in the playoffs. Game 1 tonight was not a classic matchup by any means but it should serve as a harbinger of things to come as the C's didn't play particularly well yet they still walked away with a 109-101 win. Jayson Tatum was the best player on the floor as he scored a game-high/career playoff-high 32 points with 13 rebounds and three blocks.
Many think that Boston has the best young duo in the league and Jaylen Brown certainly held up his end of the bargain with 29 points, six rebounds and three steals. Kemba Walker added 19 points and five assists while Gordon Hayward posted 12 points and a game-high four steals but unfortunately he suffered what looked to be a pretty bad right ankle sprain. He was seen after the game leaving on crutches as he headed for an MRI. Ugh, poor guy has had such an uneven Celtics career with all the injuries that he's dealt with. Let's hope it's not as bad as it looked like in real time.
Joel Embiid (26 points, game-high 16 rebounds, game-high 5 turnovers) is still an absolute beast but who else left on Philly scares you? Josh Richardson scored 18 points and Alec Burks produced the same amount off the bench while Tobias Harris added 15 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Filling in at point guard for Simmons, my man Shake Milton put up 13 points but without one of the best passers in the NBA (Simmons) not to mention ballhandlers, the Sixers turned it over 11 more times (18-7) than the Celtics. That coupled with Boston's seven more steals (12-5) and five more made free throws (23-18) were the only real differences in the contest. Oh and if you're looking for the ghost of Al Horford, he manged to have six points, seven rebounds and six assists with a game-low plus-minus of minus-18. Hey Al, do you wish you remained with the Celtics rather than go to the rudderless 76ers in free agency? Nevermind, you don't have to answer that big guy.
To Philly's credit, they came out on fire leading to a one-point lead (26-25) after the first quarter. Boston woke up and started to play their style in the second quarter which gave them a 55-49 halftime advantage. Naturally, when you thought that the Sixers would just roll over they actually controlled the third quarter completely (30-20) to go into the fourth quarter up 79-75. Philly's lack of depth and foul trouble to both Embiid and Horford (5 fouls apiece) helped Boston finally pull away a bit in the fourth though they had to sweat it out at the end despite what the final score might lead you to believe.
Once they start matching up with better teams further in the playoffs, Boston's bench will simply have to perform better. Tonight's total output of eight points from them is beyond embarassing. Marcus Smart (2 points, 0-for-5 shooting, 2 steals in 32 minutes) figures to slot into Hayward's spot in the starting lineup assuming that he's out for at least a few games. Smart tends to play better in the most important games and he certainly left room for improvement personally after tonight's stinker.
You have to love the sheer predictably of some NBA playoff series, especially those in the earlier rounds. I hate to forecast the future-which is truly futile in 2020-but here is how it'll go for the 76ers: they'll get swept by the C's or lose in a gentleman's sweep (5 games). They'll fire their head coach (BU product and Maine native) Brett Brown and replace him with some other NBA retread. Then Embiid and/or Simmons will demand a trade when they realize that Philadelphia is not going anywhere with this mostly average roster behind them. Anyways, see you on Wednesday night (6:30, NBC Sports Boston) for Game 2.
No comments:
Post a Comment