The Philadelphia 76ers are looking to head to Boston and take their home dominance with them on the road as they face the rival Celtics on Thursday as Al Horford makes his first return trip to Boston. It will mark the second time the rivals have faced off with each other after the Sixers knocked off Boston on opening night back in October.
Philadelphia is 13-0 at home, but they are just 5-7 on the road as they have not been able to find that groove on the road. They dropped their last road matchup on December 5 to the Washington Wizards and Thursday’s game will not be an easy mission to achieve a win.
With that said, now is the time for the guide to the game:
How to watch Sixers vs. Celtics
- Date: Thursday, December 12
- Time: 8:00 p.m. EST
- Location: TD Garden Boston, MA
- TV: TNT
Injury Report
- Sixers: NONE
- Celtics: NOT YET SUBMITTED
Storylines
Simmons excited for Horford’s return
Whenever the Sixers and the Celtics matchup, there’s always anticipation, but on Thursday night, there will be more juice with the return of Horford after leaving for the Sixers in free agency. Horford tormented the Sixers when he was a member of the Celtics for the previous three seasons and Ben Simmons is excited to face Boston on the road with Horford on their side.
“For me, I want to win just based on it’s the Celtics,” Simmons said. “But on top of that, it’s Al’s former team. He was a great player there, but it would be amazing to get that one, too.”
Embiid wants to have fun
There was a moment in Tuesday’s win over the Denver Nuggets where star big man Joel Embiid shimmied to the crowd after a big play. It’s something that he feels like he needs to do more in order to dominate out on the floor.
“I haven’t done it enough all season,” said the big man. “I have not been having fun, just mainly because I’m trying to figure out how to make it work and stuff. It goes back to me being mature and one of the biggest parts of my game is just having fun and by having fun is talking trash, but that part has kind of been cut. I just need to be myself and do whatever I want, because when I’m having fun, I dominate.”
Embiid has been struggling with balancing being mature and also being the trash talker that he has been known to be on the floor. He says things changed after his brawl with Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns.
“Everybody has been talking,” the star added. “I’m not trying to be a distraction to the team. The fight happened and we had good momentum and from there we kind of lost it and lost a couple games. I’m not trying to be a distraction, but that’s just part of my game and I feel like me losing that part has taken a toll on my game. Sometimes I might be childish, but I care about winning. Everybody knows that. I’ll do whatever it takes to win.”
Prediction
All signs point to the Sixers being able to get a win on Thursday. They had an off day of preparation while the Celtics were locked in a battle with the Indiana Pacers. However, this team has given poor performances in the past–see Wizards, December 5–so it’s impossible to really tell which team shows up on Thursday. The Sixers should win this one, but it won’t be easy.
Pick: Sixers in a close one
Sixers vs. Celtics season series
Game 1 October 23: 107-93 Sixers
Game 2 December 12:
Game 3 January 9:
Game 4 February 1:
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