The Sacramento Kings also won their second game at the Golden State Warriors, but also benefited from a bagged champion. The Miami Heat and the Philadelphia 76ers take important but close victories, while the Boston Celtics win dirty.
It was not nice what the Celtics showed in the pensioners’ paradise, but the strong defense of the goblins was the guarantor for this victory. Coach Brad Stevens was able to fall back on Al Horford again this time, but admitted after the game that his team did not play well in the attack.
Boston only hit 37.8 percent of the litters from the field, but numerous rebounds landed in the hands of the Celtics. With 55:40 the guests won the duel under the boards, each starter grabbed at least 2 offensive rebounds. The game was clearer than the final result. Celtics approved Orlando only 31 points in the first half and extended the lead to 24 points in the meantime. Only in the fourth quarter could the weak hosts provide a little result cosmetics (31:17 in the last 12 minutes).
Greg Monroe and Terry Rozier were the guests’ most hard-working scorers with 17 points each, while Horford contributed another 15 points and 9 rebounds. Marcus Morris (9, 4/15 FG) and Jayson Tatum (8, 3/8 FG), who were so strong against Washington, remained pale for long periods.
However, disillusionment in Orlando, who have now lost six of the last seven games again: “We provoked so many bad throws, but were unable to get the rebounds,” said coach Frank Vogel disappointedly. The Magic’s best scorer was Shelvin Mack, who scored 16 points coming from the bank.
Turnover was a big problem for the Sixers all season, not that night. Only 5 losses represented a new record in the five-year era under coach Brett Brown – and yet the Sixers had to tremble for victory for a long time. There were several reasons for this. First, the Sixers’ defense was not really good, Brooklyn hit 50 percent of his threesomes (15/30 3FG).
For this Joel Embiid had been working on his 24th birthday. On his 60th birthday he had big problems with his throw, even though he contributed 24 points (6/23 FG, 11/11 FT). Instead, the birthday boy took a career high of 19 rebounds and blocked 2 litters. One of them was decisive when the Center Spencer Dinwiddie (14) cleared the drive. Robert Covington had previously led the Sixers with a three-man lead (116:115). Embiid and T.J. McConnell finally brought the game home from the line.
Besides Embiid, J.J. was also convincing. Redick (23) and Ben Simmons (21, 12 assists, 8 rebounds), who missed his third triple-double in a row. Nets coach Kenny Atkinson did not want to blame his team after the end:”The Sixers are incredibly talented. They hit a lot of heavy throws,” the coach had to admit.
For Brooklyn DeMarre Carroll (18, 11 rebounds) and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (21, 10 boards) played double doubles, while D’Angelo Russell (8, 3/14 FG) didn’t want much to come together.
Page 1: Sixers with a lot of effort – Celtics locker
Page 2: x