Losing to the Sixers is always the most annoying type of losing. No doubt about it. So it’s even worse when the Celtics do it twice in a damn row! (122-110 this time.) This one couldn’t be blamed on a Sixers-friendly whistle, though — not in any significant way. Despite Jaylen Brown having one of his best NBA performances yet, the team as a whole shot poorly and was hopelessly out-rebounded as Joel Embiid and a vengeful Ben Simmons ran roughshod.
Brown shot 57% to reach 42 points alongside 9 boards, 3 assists, a steal and a block. The Marcus Smart/Kemba Walker backcourt also did well, earning 20-7-3-2 and 19-3-5-3, respectively. Aaaaaand that was kinda it for offense. The entire big-man contingent (Grant Williams, Rob Williams, Tristan Thompson and Daniel Theis) was available, but none of them could make buckets or fight off Philly’s size.
This game is not disappointing!! https://t.co/6VFAfUP6Un
— Max Lederman (@Max_Lederman) January 23, 2021
Fantastic JoJo footwork to beat the double team!@sixers 6-6 early on ESPN 🔥 pic.twitter.com/IhnwNQaduL
— NBA (@NBA) January 23, 2021
Generally speaking it was a bad time, though at least there were some “game recognize game” vibes:
Joel Embiid and Marcus Smart rekindle after a little dust-up. Mutual respect! pic.twitter.com/EpyLCBmk1C
— Jackson Frank (@jackfrank_jjf) January 23, 2021
And the ref shenanigans were back!
yeah, that sounds right https://t.co/Tmy7zLvLG5
— CelticsBlog (@celticsblog) January 23, 2021
On the bright side, Rob Williams was back:
— Max Lederman (@Max_Lederman) January 23, 2021
put it in the MFA pic.twitter.com/2PkiHkKABW
— smarfwater™ (@smarfwater) January 23, 2021
The game itself was normalizing, with the Cs just a couple of points behind the Sixers, when shit got miserable in an accidental collision between Brown and Pritchard:
Payton Pritchard's being helped to the locker room with the assistance of two members of Boston's training staff, arms draped over their shoulders.
— Adam Himmelsbach (@AdamHimmelsbach) January 23, 2021
While Pritch could move his feet in the most literal sense, he couldn’t walk on his own power, and there’s no way that’s good.
Silver lining:
Maybe the double big lineup works and they just had the wrong bigs in there? https://t.co/Uls2GK0eVI
— John Karalis 🇬🇷🇺🇦 (@John_Karalis) January 23, 2021
After 1⃣:#Celtics 33#Sixers 25
Quarter 2⃣ coming up on @NBCSBoston!
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) January 23, 2021
But:
Payton Pritchard OUT for the remainder of the game with a right knee sprain per the Celtics
— Cassidy Hubbarth (@CassidyHubbarth) January 23, 2021
Given how ugly that collision was, Payton Pritchard having just a right knee sprain is probably best-case scenario.
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) January 23, 2021
Cs way more aggressive doubling Embiid. Love it.
— NBA Finals Trey (@TA1297) January 23, 2021
Walker's ability to get small, well smaller is amazing. Howard shows a bit wide which creates the gap Walker to split the screen. pic.twitter.com/0vyLpM4LmX
— Mo Dakhil (@MoDakhil_NBA) January 23, 2021
Sixers started 9-9 and have gone 5-19 since then.
— Adam Himmelsbach (@AdamHimmelsbach) January 23, 2021
The Cs stayed just barely ahead of the Sixers for the remainder of the half. Herculean effort by Joel Embiid and Tobias Harris kept Philly in striking distance, but Boston served themselves well by baiting Embiid into 3 first-half fouls.
Jaylen Brown’s improvement in his jumper continues to be remarkable. That shot was well contested by Ben Simmons and it didn’t matter. Brown up to 17 points already.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) January 23, 2021
Q2️⃣✅ pic.twitter.com/G6t5HXw152
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 23, 2021
76ers shoot twice as many FTs as the Celtics YET AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
— Ryan Bernardoni (@dangercart) January 23, 2021
More attrition-based offense in the third quarter. Punch and counterpunch. Boston stayed just in front of Philly, and Weird Celtics Twitter stalwarts were having their fun with it:
What an absurd finish by Kemba. pic.twitter.com/TlltA3JzNp
— Tom Westerholm (@Tom_NBA) January 23, 2021
https://twitter.com/noah_terranova/status/1352798793654300672?s=20
Embiid fucking flailing at full HP
— Finals Tucker 🐀 (@TuckerLeRat) January 23, 2021
when the bully gets bullied 🤝 pic.twitter.com/To0HlICgSs
— smarfwater™ (@smarfwater) January 23, 2021
Pretty big call there. Jaylen with the and-1 that's Embiid's 4th. Then Embiid gets a tech for the delay of game.
— Adam Himmelsbach (@AdamHimmelsbach) January 23, 2021
It was not Embiid’s night, but the Sixers did manage to retake the lead late in Q3. The Celtics bench was not in the greatest shape, to put it mildly.
Grant and Teague bet on the Sixers
— NBA Finals Trey (@TA1297) January 23, 2021
https://twitter.com/BrianPickett/status/1352803695822569474?s=20
Jaylen put this shit on his back just for the bench to immediately throw it away when they came in. Fuck this
— Sam 🐐☘️ (@S_Scott019) January 23, 2021
Tristan’s constipated-looking face in the below is my mood:
Q3️⃣✅ pic.twitter.com/nt5ZnxB2JR
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 23, 2021
The beginning of Q4 looked like it could be a definitive wheels-falling-off-the-cart moment. Scapegoats emerged:
Embiid caught Thompson with those fouls in game one, he defo hunts that call
— Adam Taylor (@AdamTaylorNBA) January 23, 2021
https://twitter.com/softcoredancing/status/1352808952816422912?s=20
It’s hard to really blame one dude when the truth is that Jaylen Brown was all that kept them alive in the first half of Q4. Also Tristan did have this slick block:
Tristan got some hang time on that block pic.twitter.com/yOr80kxds8
— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) January 23, 2021
It was too late, though, even as Brown raged till the bitter end: Simmons got hot on offense at just the right time; that plus some sloppy defense and ball-handling (and Sixers trips to the charity stripe) spelled Celtics doom.
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