On Wednesday and tonight at the Wells Fargo Center, the Celtics (8-6 overall, 4-4 away) did their best to ensure that Sixers (11-5 overall-best record in the East, 9-1 home) superstar center Joel Embiid (38 points, 11 rebounds) will be the Eastern Conference Player of the Week when that meaningless honor gets announced on Monday afternoon. In the two games, he combined for 80 points and 21 rebounds, is that good? Philadelphia won both meetings including this evening's 122-110 beatdown. Boston's superstar forward Jayson Tatum is still out as he recovers from a bout with Covid-19 but he's been practicing lately so the hope is that he can return to a game possibly as early as Sunday night (7, NBC Sports Boston) vs. Cleveland (8-7) at TD Garden. Shooting guard Jaylen Brown tied his career-high with 42 points and he added nine rebounds but he couldn't do it all by himself for the Celts.
The losses to one of their biggest rivals were disappointing enough along with their first three-game losing streak of the season but the C's also saw their solid rookie guard Payton Pritchard leave with a scary looking right knee sprain. It happened on an awkward play as Brown fell onto Pritchard's knee while they were both going for a rebound. I am not a medical expert but with the way that Payton reacted to his injury and how slowly he went off the court with the help of Celtics trainers and the team doctor, it didn't look promising. We'll see what the diagnosis is but I'm guessing that he won't be in action anytime soon. Sigh. No matter who Boston tries to throw against Embiid-Tristan Thompson, Grant Williams, Daniel Theis or Robert Williams (who made his first appearance since Jan. 6 after he went down with the coronavirus)-it hardly mattered. Nobody on the C's has a chance to stop a motivated Embiid who only had to play 30 minutes in this one. Say what you want about Dwight Howard (12 rebounds, 3 steals) but he's a pretty decent backup center and also someone that the Celtics could have signed in free agency.
It wasn't all the Embiid show (OK, it mostly was) but Philly featured some nice performances from power forward Tobias Harris (23 points, 8 rebounds)-who I still think is one of the most underrated players in the league-point guard Ben Simmons had a double-double with 15 points and 11 assists while shooting guard Seth Curry (15 points) showed no ill effects from Covid-19 as he is the top 3-point shooter in the NBA at the moment. PS how confusing must it have been to have two brothers with such similar names like Seth and Steph (Curry) growing up in the same house? I wouldn't say that the Sixers have a great bench but they outscored Boston's 26-22.
Guard Marcus Smart (20 points, 7 assists, 2 steals) usually puts up good numbers when he gets to start but that doesn't mean it's his most effective role since he shot 7-for-17 from the field in a team-high 39 minutes. Point guard Kemba Walker (19 points, 5 assists, 3 steals) posted his same scoring total from Wednesday but he was able to play seven more minutes which means that his worrisome knee is responding well to the stem cell procedure he underwent in the off-season. After a strong first quarter where they outscored the Sixers 33-25, Philadelphia took over in the second quarter (24-19) although Boston still hung on to a slim 52-49 lead at halftime. The 76ers exploded for 42 points in the third quarter when the Celts could only manage 28. Boston got as close as four points (101-97) midway through the fourth quarter but Smart missed a layup and that was it since Boston could never find a way to slow down Philly's offense.
The Sixers shot a whopping 10% better than the Celtics from the field (55.6%-45.6%) and they grabbed 13 more rebounds (45-32) including 13 more defensive boards (35-22). The most important thing for the C's is to get the hell out of Philly and away from all of their delicious cheese steaks. You probably don't know it (and why should you?) but the Cavs might actually be decent for the first time in years. They are only a half game behind Boston after this mini-slump so Sunday's first meeting of the season is sneaky important for both clubs. UConn's Andre Drummond is one of the best centers in the NBA and guard Collin Sexton is quickly becoming a star for Cleveland in his third year in the league. What I'm trying to say is that make sure Celts-Cavs is the first channel you changed to when Bills-Chiefs goes to a commercial or at halftime. It certainly doesn't have the same high stakes or sheer entertainment factor of the AFC Championship Game (remember those?) but it is a tasty appetizer on a cold Sunday night in late January.
UPDATE 1/23/21: The Celtics official Twitter account sent an update about Pritchard tonight. An MRI conducted on him earlier today revealed that he has a Grade I sprain of his right MCL. "Pritchard is expected to return to on-court activities in approximately two weeks." Whew. This could have been way worse news about the rookie guard that's been a pleasant surprise early on this season. Granted, he probably won't appear in a game for at least three or four weeks but it's way better than a torn MCL or ACL that could cost him possibly the rest of the year.
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