For a hot minute there, it felt like the Celtics were going to come out and put all of our fears to bed. They had a great opening few minutes and closing few minutes.. but that was sandwiched around about 38 minutes of rancid shit that did nothing but reinforce our terrible feelings about this recent Celtics funk. There is nothing to celebrate here except for the minor miracle that is the Celtics escaping with a win over the hapless Sixers. No one really emerges the winner here, but the Celtics technically outscored Philly 84-80… so… hurray?
The Celtics got the hot start we were hoping for, largely behind Avery Bradley. He came out blazing hot again to fuel and early 12-2 run, but Philly closed the gap after a time out behind Jahlil Okafor in the post. After some back and forth, Philly took a 2-point lead after an 8-0 run. The Celtics escaped the quarter with a 2 point lead.
Philly opened up the 2nd quarter hot and used a 10-0 run to build up an 8 point lead. The Celtics looked just as slow, disjointed, and listless as ever in this quarter, failing to score for 5 minutes and only mustering 14 points overall. The Celtics starters came in to cut the Philly lead to 4 on a Thomas to Johnson alley oop, but Avery Bradley blew a fast break layup with 9 seconds left and Isaiah Canaan beat the buzzer with 3 and give Philly a 7 point halftime lead.
The third quarter was an abysmal 17-15 debacle that offended me personally. I don’t care to discuss it and if you dare bring it up, I’ll break into your house and dunk an unspecified personal item into the toilet and leave.
Philly went on a 6-2 mini-run to push the lead back up to 8, which forced Brad Stevens to call a time out. The lead went up to 11 before the Celtics actually woke up and went on a 18-3 run to close it out and win.
The Green:
Oh wait… I got something..
No… no… hold on….
OH.. yes… Isaiah Thomas got hot tonight. 30 points on 11-21 shooting and 4-7 from 3. He scored 11 in the 4th quarter.
The Gross:
If you didn’t watch this game, just know this: The Celtics did virtually nothing to win this game. Yes, they turned up the defense in the 4th quarter in that they actually played some and forced Philadelphia to reveal exactly how unbelievably terrible they are. What the Celtics did in the 4th quarter should have been done throughout the game. There is almost nothing about this win that makes me feel good.
I’m not fooled by Evan Turner’s numbers. He hit a few shots in the second half, but I hated his game tonight. He was bad Evan Turner tonight. It took 18 shots for him to score 16 points. And for some unknown reason, Evan Turner refuses to pass to RJ Hunter. I don’t know exactly what’s going on here, but I don’t like it. He blatantly LOOKED RIGHT AT Hunter one possession and whipped a pass in the other direction. Hunter was open from 3, and Turner blatantly disregarded him.
The Bench didn’t make a field goal until about 2:30 left in the first half. Evan Turner is the only bench player to make a shot (Zeller and Olynyk combined for 5 made free throws to complete the bench scoring)
#Celtics forward Jae Crowder complains about no call, doesn’t run back on D, his man hits 3. C’s trail winless #Sixers 68-59 … so, yeah.
— Scott Souza (@Scott_Souza) November 26, 2015
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsJared Sullinger (4-12 fg, 2-7 3pt) has come back to earth. Sully should never take 7 3’s in a game. Just.. never.
The Greenlights:
Thomas to Johnson alley oop https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Crowder strip gets Thomas a layup
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Crowder gives the Celtics the lead
The Grid:
- Philadelphia blocked 14 shots tonight
- Celtics: 17 turnovers, 18 assists
- Boston: 31-91 (34.1%) 9-29 3pt (31%)
Philly: 31-83 (37.3%) 7-27 3pt (25.9%)
I’m disgusted by this game. This did nothing to make me feel better about anything. Is Marcus Smart really THAT important?
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