PHILADELPHIA, PA–The Philadelphia 76ers were looking to build off the momentum they built on Tuesday with the franchise introducing James Harden, but they ran into a buzz saw in the form of the Boston Celtics.
Harden was in attendance as he rang the celebratory bell before the game, but the Celtics built a lead as large as 51 on their way to an easy 135-87 win over the Sixers. Jayson Tatum had 28 points, 12 rebounds, and six rebounds and Jaylen Brown had 29 points and eight rebounds as the Celtics made it look easy all night. Boston made 25 triples on the night on 45 attempts.
“Dribble penetration,” said coach Doc Rivers. “They just beat us all night. They beat us off the dribble, they got into the paint, and they moved the ball. That’s the one thing, you watch Boston play, you can literally see the improvement of their ball movement. The old Boston is more ISOs, this Boston is driving and playing with each other, and that’s what makes them so much tougher and then it makes Tatum and Brown even tougher when they move the ball like that.”
The Celtics did have 28 assists on the night on 46 made baskets as they were able to get into a groove relatively quickly. Tatum and Brown were able to get easy looks which then led to the star tandem making tough looks and the Sixers did not have an answer.
“For me, it was just getting Paul Millsap some minutes at the end of the day,” said Rivers. “At least we burned some minutes with him. This game was over early. You could just see it. We were flat. Offensively, we just had no life. All night, they switched like they do every night. They switched everything, we just stood on the perimeter, didn’t penetrate a lot, and we did miss some open shots and I just thought it was a firestorm after that.”
The Sixers only shot 28.7% from the floor on the night and they only made eight of their 32 attempts from deep. It was a tough night for everybody involved and there really isn’t much of a reaction to a game like this one.
“Oh (expletive)?” said Georges Niang. “If we’re being honest. I mean, I don’t like to say these games happen, but you don’t get much out of these. You might as well flush it and move on and remember the feeling of what it felt like to sit on the bench and watch it or be in the game and be a part of it and never let that happen again. There’s not really much else to say.”
The Sixers have one final game before the All-Star break on Thursday when they hit the road to take on the Milwaukee Bucks.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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