The Boston Celtics get their first look at Rookie of the Year front-runner Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia Sixers for their second matchup of the year. Boston won the first meeting in a nail biter 107-106. Philly will again be playing the C’s shorthanded without their starting point guard Sergio Rodriguez, this time at TD Garden with Embiid on a minutes-restriction. Now the only team in history with 16+ three pointers in three straight games, the C’s squeaked by the Sixers again 110-106.
THE GAME FLOW
It was a disgusting start to the game for the Celtics to say the least. Isaiah Thomas forced a pass to Amir Johnson on a pick-and-roll that led to a powerful jam by the rookie phenom Embiid on the fast break. That was just the start to the game. Luckily we had former Texas Longhorn Avery Bradley get the team out of jams with his clutch shooting late in the shot clock. AB finished the first with 14 points on 5/8 shooting, including 4/5 from deep. But that didn’t stop “The Process” from thinning the scoring margin with his nine points. The defense looked stout despite the horrible job of not boxing out Dario Saric for an easy put-back before the quarter ended.
It was more of the rookie combo down low with Embiid and Saric, sparking a quick 7-2 run to regain the lead. An impressive deep three late in the shot clock from Marcus Smart (yes he’s still taking those late threes) kept it from getting out of hand. Ersan Ilyasova bailed the Sixers out though with 11 points, most were from heaves late in the shot clock. Philadelphia really exposed the lack of a paint presence defensively for “Gang Green” and capped the quarter off with 30 points in the paint. Gerald Henderson weaved his way in the paint with ease on consecutive possessions, you could see it coming a mile away. I guess everyone saw it but the Celtic defense. Boston couldn’t hit the easy shots and found themselves down double digits on 38% shooting while giving up 54% to Philly.
The start to the second half was the same story. Pin-headed turnovers, stagnant offense, and an inability to finish the open shots. Yes, there was yet ANOTHER late Marcus Smart three that resulted in a 24 shot clock violation. It was tough to stomach the amount of open shots missed. Bradley jacked up 21 shots through three quarters, half of which were threes and managed to connect on 10 of them. He was the spark plug that got Boston back in the game. Now chucking up that many shots is not ideal, but with IT having a quiet night shooting, somebody had to step up. Kelly Olynyk missed the potential game-leading three to end the quarter but failed to do so.
He got his redemption though around the 11-minute mark to take the 83-80 lead with a three. The Sixer defense buckled down by forcing the Celtics to shoot shots late in the shot clock and were able to contest on seemingly every possession. Did I already mention two Smart late threes? Scratch that, make it three now. But his defense is what got him out of the doghouse as he was able to find Big Al on a couple of key possessions. IT dropped in an even more clutch three for insurance purposes to make it 103-99. Philly stormed back after a ballsy three from Henderson to tie it up and swatted a Bradley three. Embiid drew a petty foul call to regain the two point lead until Brad Stevens conjured up a perfect play call. He brought KO on the pick-and-pop with IT, Thomas got the penetration to kick it for an open Horford three on a beautifully executed play. Then it became a free throw battle as “The Little Guy” iced the game.
A quick Thomas turnover fresh out the gates leads to an ferocious Embiid jam. This was just one of 18 mind-numbing turnovers for the Celtics.
IT for setting up the play perfectly, KO for kicking it out, and of course Big Al on the go-ahead bucket.
Al Horford splashes home the go-ahead 3 with 17.2 left in the fourth! RT to make him an All-Star #NBAVote https://t.co/6upiRuIEqd
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 7, 2017
Joel Embiid was looking forward to facing off against the All-Star nominee. Well, he finally got his wish with this teardrop from IT.
http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=18423346
THE GRID
Avery Bradley: 26 points on 10/24 shooting, 9 rebounds, 2 assists.
Marcus Smart: 14 points on 4/12 shooting, 8 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 steal.
T.J. McConnell: 9 points on 4/6 shooting, career-high 17 assists, 4 rebounds.
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