NBA: Boston wins victory in Philly

The Boston Celtics scored their first victory in the third attempt. Head coach Brad Stevens’ team won the Philadelphia 76ers with 102:92. Al Horford and Kyrie Irving turned up in the final quarter and turned the game around. Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons had a mixed evening.

It was a partly tough business. Both teams were far below 50 percent of the field. On the one hand there was still a lack of automatisms, on the other hand strong defenses were also played. There was a heated atmosphere, the Philly fans doubted every whistle and whipped their team forward – at the latest when Ben Simmons provided the hosts with the first lead of the Sixers just before the break (48:46).

Even after the switch, the game was still owned by Philly. JJ Redick (19 points, 4/7 threesomes) and Jerryd Bayless (16.4/6) continued to hit their threesomes, while Boston had to fight hard for every point. The Celtics stayed without a field goal for several minutes, but at least came to the Charity Stripe.

In the final section, Boston then shifted up a gear. Led by Al Horford (17 points, 5/16 FG, 9 rebounds) and Kyrie Irving (21 points, 6 assists) Celtics turned the match around, Philly could not react any more. Joel Embiid stood there on the court, but was never able to put his stamp on the game (11 points, 4/16 FG, 14 rebounds, 2 blocks). Ben Simmons (11 points, 4/11 FG, 11 rebounds) played a strong first half, but then went underground.

In Boston, Jayson Tatum missed the double-double (15 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks), but still played a good game. Daniel Theis was this time the first sub from the bank and came in about 10 minutes on 3 rebounds, an assist and a block. He put his only attempt at throwing from downtown to the ring.

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The game was initially overturned in Philly’s favour when Boston began to produce ball losses. A whopping 13 were there until the break (at the end of 19). All points had to be worked hard for this. In Transition, the Sixers did a great job and didn’t let a single counter close in the first 24 minutes.

Another worrying figure for Celtics was ten free throws (22/32 FT, 68.8 percent). Jaylen Brown and Terry Rozier couldn’t sink any of their three freebies. Especially in the first half, Celtics missed out on the opportunity to stay ahead of the pack. Towards the end Tatum and Irving improved these numbers a little bit.

Philly turned the match around in the first leg because Redick and Bayless were successful from outside. In the last quarter, there was nothing left to do (1/6 threesomes). There was no plan B, although it must also be mentioned that Boston strongly defended itself in the person of Horford near the ring. In addition, the Defense clearly decreased. Celtics scores 33 points (11/17 FG) in fourth quarter

Sixers coach Brett Brown almost relied on the same rotation as against the wizards. Thus, Jahlil Okafor and Nik Stauskas received another DNP. Justin Anderson was allowed at least a minute.

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Al Horford. Three-quarters were pitch black, what the center offered. He didn’t want to drop his litter offensively, and bad turnovers joined him. In the final section, however, with 9 points (3/4 FG) fully up to speed and finally aggressive in the post. His defense, on the other hand, was the entire game elitist. Simmons hardly had any chance to unfold, and the Dominican made many other throws difficult. Even Embiid could not score consistently on the board despite economies of scale.

Markelle Fultz. It was a tough evening for the first pick of the Draft 2017. On his first two drives he was cleared of Theis and Tatum, then he foulled Terry Rozier on the threesome. After that, obviously with respect and less aggressive. At the end, after 17 minutes of play, there were 6 points (2/9 FG), 3 rebounds and 4 fouls in the boxing score. After all: His much criticized free throws were all in this time.

Without Marcus Smart, Celtics coach Brad Stevens decided to go for the big set-up with Horford and Baynes. Horford mostly had to deal with Simmons and cut a good figure. Due to the two bigs, Boston dominated the zone and thus the zone. If the rebounding last season was a big weakness, Celtics won this duel against the long sixers quite clearly with 53:45. The mobile Theis (first player from the bank) also played his part and also held smaller opponents in front of him excellently.