Rapid Recap is designed for the busiest of Celtics fans. Whether you can’t stay awake to read 10 paragraphs or your hangover is just too much, Rapid Recap tells the timeline of the game in only a minute or two.
There was no way this one would be easy for the Celtics. Games against the Sixers never are, even in this case, with Ben Simmons out for the duration and taking a lot of his squad’s offensive potency with him. So we got a grindy, grimy contest that Boston narrowly won, 109-101.
Jayson Tatum was the Cs unquestioned star with a massive 32-13 double-double (plus an assist and 3 blocks), but Jaylen Brown wasn’t far behind at 29 points, 6 boards, 4 assists and 3 steals. It was good they scored so prolifically, because aside from them and Kemba Walker (19-1-5 plus a steal), there wasn’t a ton of offense. Gordon Hayward had a reasonably balanced line of 12-4-3 plus 4 steals, but sprained his right ankle—not that ankle, yet nevertheless, his future in the series is uncertain.
Enter The Zone pic.twitter.com/Mo9uJBucYm
— 👁️🐷👁️𝙈𝙖𝙣𝘽𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙋𝙞𝙜 (@manbearpiggins) August 17, 2020
This game started largely as a war between Brown and Joel Embiid on offense, but Kemba Walker arguably had the hottest highlights (including a pretty dish to Daniel Theis for a dunk, not pictured):
and he's off ⛹🏽♂️💨 pic.twitter.com/W7CdOvCBzq
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) August 17, 2020
Yet as expected, these two squads were immensely closely matched throughout the frame. (And that’s WITH the absence of Simmons; there’s a reason why Celtics fans dreaded this matchup until the Australian point forward’s injury.) This gave us 12 minutes of oft-traded leads, with the Sixers narrowly holding a 26-25 lead when it ended.
https://twitter.com/maxacarlin/status/1295498500256473088?s=20
Carlin’s analysis there seems right on the money.
Additionally, the Cs were well-equipped to force Sixers turnovers and score off of them, but Philly had a knack for turning bad shots into second-chance points that Boston couldn’t match. This was one of many things that made the game often feel like a war of attrition: Neither squad had an obvious advantage. Embiid is probably the best player in this series, whereas the Celtics are a better overall team but can still be smacked around by Embiid (and Horford, and Harris, and arguably even Matisse Thybulle).
Philly have done a good job of killing Boston’s off-ball movement. Curious how Boston overcome that as the game continues
— Adam Taylor (@AdamTaylorNBA) August 17, 2020
Around halfway through Q2, Boston’s key weapon materialized in the form of Jayson Tatum:
Jay Smooth to the hoop pic.twitter.com/HDLJAdc7k1
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) August 17, 2020
Find something you like as much as Jayson Tatum seems to like attacking the Sixers’ drop coverage.
— Tom Westerholm (@Tom_NBA) August 17, 2020
https://twitter.com/MuppetMonsters/status/1295505215391592448?s=20
🗣️ AND-ONE pic.twitter.com/9EUMoNEsFc
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) August 17, 2020
Halftime: Celtics 55, 76ers 49
☘️ Tatum: 21 PTS, 8 REB
☘️ Brown: 12 PTS, 3 REB, 2 STL
🔔 Embiid: 13 PTS, 9 REB 4 TOV
🔔 Richardson: 10 PTS, 3 REB pic.twitter.com/XJBUMqvOsj— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) August 17, 2020
21 POINTS IN THE FIRST HALF.
shimmy on 'em, JT 😅 pic.twitter.com/HDh0LJ9xUi
— The Ringer (@ringer) August 17, 2020
Despite Celtics' intense defense, Philly still shot 55%. SMH over some of the makes. But Tatum is making up for that, 21 points, 4 of 5 threes.
— Mike Dynon ☘️🏀 (@MikeDynon) August 17, 2020
Mike, in keeping with his status as the grand sage of Red’s Army, is wise to note that the Cs allowed way too much quality offense from the Sixers despite how hard they were working on defense. Fortunately, Tatum kept his surge going through the early third-quarter minutes to keep Philly at bay.
Jayson Tatum has completely furnished his home of superstardom https://t.co/8QYIpaZVjd
— Cousin Grizz (@AndrewDoxy) August 18, 2020
Boston extended their lead over Philly as far as 10 midway through the third, and then got a little cocky, started trying some heat-check shit that didn’t pan out. (Theis, for example, has developed a more than serviceable jumper, but was far too trigger-happy with it on consecutive possessions.) AAAAND then it was tied. And then Philly had the lead.
https://twitter.com/farmer_woman/status/1295495967907643393?s=20
I’m not saying it was entirely Kanter’s fault…but I’m not not saying it either. 79-75 Sixers at the end of three frames.
That's just inexcusable https://t.co/FHAaJaSt6d
— John Karalis 🇬🇷🇺🇦 (@John_Karalis) August 18, 2020
Al Horford starting to come into his own didn’t make things any easier.
pain
— Chris Wozniak (@wlohaty) August 18, 2020
Brown, Walker and Tatum went to work immediately to start regaining the lead, and despite some tough Sixers defense and other issues, the Cs re-tied it four minutes in.
jaylen brown will save us https://t.co/0hpbexwoBn
— 👁️🐷👁️𝙈𝙖𝙣𝘽𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙋𝙞𝙜 (@manbearpiggins) August 18, 2020
Admittedly, Kanter was helpful in making up for some of his earlier mistakes:
Kanter with 3 dimes in 8 minutes, one assist shy of his playoff career high. https://t.co/NDUZt9uDJE
— Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) August 18, 2020
Some controversy when Horford sorta grab-tackled Brown on a drive and Brown laid it on a bit thick to get a flagrant out of what was probably a common foul…but it benefited the Cs, so *shrug emoji.* This was part of a 9-0 run that gave Boston back the lead.
(that was probably a clean foul but also don’t grapple a guy in the paint and you won’t have to sweat it)
— shea (@sheanorling) August 18, 2020
GRANT saw some action finally in Q4 and extended some Cs possessions with tough rebounding:
Grant Williams Tommy Points!!!
— Abby Chin (@tvabby) August 18, 2020
The combined strength of Jayson and Jaylen—plus some clutch free throws by Kemba—put this one away for the Cs. But with Hayward injuring his ankle, any definitive prediction for this series would not be wise.
https://t.co/rgsM5QfFdG pic.twitter.com/oBHb9TEBCh
— gary washburn (@GwashburnGlobe) August 18, 2020
Hopefully it’s just a sprain and he’ll only miss a couple of games.
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