This year’s first Celtics-Sixers game came under strange circumstances: No in-person shit-talking between the league’s two rowdiest fanbases. No full-strength rosters. Overall it was still pretty exciting…at least until the end, when Boston’s offense melted into useless goo and Philly exhibited artisanal foul-drawing ability. A game the Cs could’ve won was instead an anticlimactic, frustrating slog to a 117-109 loss.
Kemba Walker looked more or less like himself and racked up 19-2-6, while Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart combined for 51 points (26-6-3 for Brown, 25-4-4 and a steal for Smart). Daniel Theis put on quite the show as a sixth man to drop 23-10-1 and a steal.
Let’s trace how it went down:
https://twitter.com/noah_terranova/status/1352048308756353024?s=20
The offense got going real fast for the Cs:
Corner threes from Semi, Grant, or Theis actually count as 4s
— Handsome B. Wonderful (@JamPackard) January 21, 2021
Looks like it just took one game for Kemba to shake the rust off.
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) January 21, 2021
Kemba Walker knocking down two 3s in the first three minutes is a great sign for the Celtics. Walker is set to play about 20 minutes again today, after making his season debut Sunday. Meanwhile, Boston has already made four 3s after only making seven all game Sunday vs the Knicks
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) January 21, 2021
Kemba used Embiid for a screen 😅 pic.twitter.com/lpUmTx75AL
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) January 21, 2021
JB was fired up for this and-1. #Celtics Rewind presented by @tmobile pic.twitter.com/E2EFMPTnhN
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) January 21, 2021
But the Sixers are on top in the East the same way the Celtics are, so it quickly went the other way:
Now a 17-2 Sixers run.
— Adam Himmelsbach (@AdamHimmelsbach) January 21, 2021
Some…debatable officiating played a role:
In this official’s defense, he was 8 feet away with an unobstructed view. https://t.co/DgngloMjXS
— Chuck M. (@McK_Chuck) January 21, 2021
Embiid gets FT’s after getting stripped while Kemba doesn’t on a pull up 3 lol
— Dew (@DeWPoints17) January 21, 2021
There was debate over Marcus Smart, as there often is; I personally wouldn’t say he was the whole reason the Cs lost the lead.
You wanna talk about the quality of the shots? That’s fair. Telling him not to shoot anymore is just dumb IMO. He needs to take better shots not less https://t.co/yphnXfSNts
— Cousin Grizz (@AndrewDoxy) January 21, 2021
But hey, it wasn’t all bad!
🚨 BREAKING 🚨 Daniel Theis just got a call, under the basket, surrounded by #Sixers. #ThisDayInCelticsHistory
— Abby Chin (@tvabby) January 21, 2021
End of 1 pic.twitter.com/cIdHy55NMX
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 21, 2021
Remember how good the Cs offense looked against Orlando last Friday? That’s about how effective the Sixers were against the Celtics defense after their slow start. Boston didn’t have a clear answer for Tobias Harris or the surging Shake Milton.
Not sure Pritchard should be losing minutes to Teague at this point.
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) January 21, 2021
I’m not as anti-Teague as some but he looked off in the first half. Then again, only one Celtics Guard—Walker—was truly on during this period;
12 points in 9 minutes for Kemba Walker. 4-of-5 from 3-point range.
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) January 21, 2021
https://twitter.com/maxacarlin/status/1352056269801197568?s=20
Kemba’s shooting spree got Boston back a razor’s-edge lead. Brown and Theis (who seemed to not mind being used as a 6 man) were a big help:
This is the best Theis has looked on offense all year. He's clearly enjoying more time back at center.
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) January 21, 2021
https://twitter.com/Riffs_Man/status/1352057873010974722?s=20
🚨 KEMBA'S FEELING IT 🚨 pic.twitter.com/5eQNHGXBtN
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 21, 2021
Javonte Green made his presence known:
https://twitter.com/efraincarmelo/status/1352061887278624768?s=20
We got a close one!
Halftime: Boston 61, Philadelphia 58 pic.twitter.com/IhG9rbhxW0
— Celtics Stats (@celtics_stats) January 21, 2021
In-arena shit-talking may be impossible, but slander flowed wild and free on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/SamSheehan/status/1351913006188408833?s=20
Q3 started inauspiciously with Ben Simmons making Teague look reeeeaaaalllllllll old and uncoordinated:
Tacko Fall wanted Ben Simmons to get T'd up after hanging on the rim lol pic.twitter.com/Blf3OEJcKH
— Chris Grenham (@chrisgrenham) January 21, 2021
First half of the quarter was just punch/counterpunch, advance/retreat. Tit-for-tat war of attrition with no side exhibiting a clear advantage…except that Philly was leaning entirely on Embiid, while Boston was a bit more well-rounded. Marcus, for example, looked much better:
https://twitter.com/efraincarmelo/status/1352070284107505667?s=20
Embiid hooping with some bums man. He might need 50 to win this.
— NBA Finals Trey (@TA1297) January 21, 2021
Guys who’d gone on mini-tears in the first half, like Shake Milton and Tobias Harris, were ice-cold now.
Jaylen Brown #NBAvote pic.twitter.com/vsldGLyl3k
— Cameron Tabatabaie (@CTabatabaie) January 21, 2021
https://twitter.com/Riffs_Man/status/1352071205772263426?s=20
Love that Scal thinks Kemba is just waiting for Theis when it's obvious that Brad is just saving Kemba for the 4th
— Handsome B. Wonderful (@JamPackard) January 21, 2021
Simmons’ night went from bad to worse. First Jaylen did this to him:
https://twitter.com/efraincarmelo/status/1352073176801538050?s=20
Next, Tallrondo bit on consecutive flops, one of which was an absolutely ludicrous one by Javonte Green that shouldn’t have worked. Yikes.
12 minutes to go ⏰ pic.twitter.com/EHCvL6RV8H
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 21, 2021
The Sixers aren’t a team that just folds, of course, so their quick run at the top of Q4 wasn’t a huge surprise.
https://twitter.com/Riffs_Man/status/1352076758334509062?s=20
Counterpoint:
Marcus Smart (21 pts, 8-17 FG) has reached the 20-point mark for the first time this season
— Celtics Stats (@celtics_stats) January 21, 2021
We were back to the attrition-offense vibes, with neither side building up a clear lead. Free throws had, to say the least, a lot to do with the points Philly managed to accrue:
The refs have the swallow the whistle for Embiid at some point. Come on man
— Sam 🐐☘️ (@S_Scott019) January 21, 2021
Joel Embiid has 19 free throws, the entire Celtics team has 20 free throws
— bread boy (@MarxistSmart) January 21, 2021
A little acting here 😅 pic.twitter.com/Kh4h1IYKCj
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) January 21, 2021
In the final few minutes of Q4, though, Boston’s shot was almost nowhere to be found, and Philly was warming up again. Well, just enough, really. The refs took care of the rest.
FTs this half: 25 to 5
— Spookyburg (@scroteburg) January 21, 2021
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