PHILADELPHIA–The Philadelphia 76ers were able to finally get over the hump on Tuesday and knock off the Boston Celtics 103-101. It was their first win of the season over their hated rivals from Boston, but it wasn’t easy.
First off, they needed a superhuman performance from Joel Embiid to get the job done. The MVP frontrunner had 52 points on 20-for-25 shooting with 13 rebounds and six assists as the Celtics had no answer for him all night long.
With that being said, Boston entered the night missing All-Star Jaylen Brown and rim protector Robert Williams III to injury and they needed Embiid to go nuclear to get the job done. The Sixers also made so many mistakes down the stretch of this one on Tuesday.
The Sixers committed three turnovers in the final 25.4 seconds, two from Embiid who had an offensive foul that gave the Celtics a chance to tie it with two seconds left. Jayson Tatum missed a corner jumper that would have tied it. Philadelphia had six turnovers in the fourth quarter overall.
“For me, it was kinda disappointing because we found so many ways to lose the game and that’s on all of us,” Embiid said. “I’m part of it. I could’ve been better. I had some really dumb plays overhelping and giving up two 3s in the corner. The offensive foul on the flop and another turnover so I could’ve been better. We could’ve been better as a team. We got bigger goals in mind, but we gotta be better than that.”
Once PJ Tucker made two triples to give Philadelphia a 95-89 lead and then Embiid made a technical foul free-throw after Boston’s Grant Williams was T’d up, that should’ve been it. The Sixers held a 96-89 lead with 1:58 left, but the Celtics just wouldn’t go away.
Philadelphia left their shooters open, they were turning the ball over, they were making defensive mistakes, and it could have been disastrous.
“That’s on all of us,” added James Harden. “Each individual that was in the game gotta be better. I think it was all of us honestly from the fouls to the free throw to just everything to turnovers. You know what I mean? We got to just be better. We will be.”
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