Nothing feels like a playoff game in the early stages of an NBA season played during a pandemic, so it would not be accurate to mention the Sixers’ win over the Celtics on Friday night, similar to the post-season .
It was nevertheless a high-intensity physical victory for the Sixers over an enemy of the Eastern Conference, 122-110. Joel Embiid led the Sixers again with 38 points on 11-for-15 shooting and 11 rebounds.
After sweeping the mini-series against Boston, the Sixers are now 11-5 and first in the conference. They play the Pistons on Saturday at 8 p.m.
Here are observations on their win Friday:
Embiid’s bad problems, frustration and domination
Embiid opened the game in excellent form, scoring five of the Sixers’ first seven points. He split a Boston double team with a quick step-through setup, hit a tractor jumper and converted one of two throws after earning a trip to the line with a pump-fake that misled Tristan Thompson. has.
Boston, however, made some early offenses against Embiid, the second of which followed after he dared to defend a choice with Kemba Walker and was unable to grain the All-Star guard. Head coach Doc Rivers took no chances with Embiid’s bad problems and asked Dwight Howard to replace him in the first period with 5:34 left.
It is not surprising that the Sixers lost their early lead when Embiid sat down and did not have much apparent purpose or energy during the attack outside Shake Milton to look for opportunities to create shots. Howard was far below his best, committing two turnovers in the first quarter and missed a tip-in-chance on a miss from Matisse Thybulle.
Turnover was not exclusively a Howard issue, as the Sixers gave it away 12 times in the first half, including on five offensive offenses. Embiid’s third offense of 1:24 to go in the second quarter was one of them, and he was not satisfied and knocked away a water sacrifice.
His frustration continued early in the third period as he felt the referees had missed Daniel Theis in several ways. Rivers and the Sixers bench strongly agree with Embiid and it seems incredible that their star does not hear whistles. Perhaps the officials were aware of the tension between Embiid and Marcus Smart over the “swing” and aimed to reward any possible exaggerations of contact.
Howard was defeated on several occasions in the defensive campaign and struggled to guard outside the three-point line while the Sixers asked their big men to take a more aggressive approach. There’s a tricky middle ground with the way of pick-and-roll coverage between deterring ball handlers and not falling victim to their superior speed, and Howard could not find it. In honor of Howard, his game improved significantly after his initial period. The Sixers actually extended their lead late in the third quarter with Howard in the game and Embiid out.
Embiid has mostly managed to determine his negative feelings about the service work in determined, dominant play. He chatted with Ben Simmons for a few minutes shortly before the start of the third term and also shared a few words in the new “cooling-off area” late in the period and apparently wanted to be sure the two were about the same page. how exactly the team’s offense should go in the second half. With Celtics star Jayson Tatum still out after allegedly testing positive for COVID-19, Embiid would not let the Sixers waste this game.
Simmons produced at a very important time after serving mostly as a facilitator through the first three quarters. Seven of his 15 points came after the Celtics ran a fourth quarter to reduce the Sixers’ lead to 101-97. Simmons handed over a foul, converted a one-on-one lineup and knocked a victim off a steal.
A 25-point game from Simmons would be great, of course, but his offensive output is not an issue at all if the Sixers win and he wins.
Curry’s jumper is not good
Seth Curry returned to court Friday night, his first game since testing positive for COVID-19 on Jan. 7. He clearly did not have as much wind as usual, a predictable obstacle given the fact that the NBA’s health and safety protocols instruct any player. who tested positive for COVID-19 did not practice for at least ten days, but there was nothing wrong with his jumper when he nailed his first three attempts. All in all, the Sixers started a remarkable 9 for 9 off the floor.
In 27 minutes, Curry posted 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting. His shooting and playing outside are extremely important qualities for the Sixers as a whole, as we saw during the start of the team with 7-1. It will take a while before he is at his physical peak again.
Milton, Thybulle, Furkan Korkmaz, Tyrese Maxey and Howard remained the Sixers’ second unit with Curry back in the mix. Maxey only transitioned to 9:17 in the second quarter after the game and played only six minutes in total. His play during Curry’s absence apparently did not make Rivers think he deserved an immediate increase in minutes. That said, the rookie is a non-brainer member of the Sixers’ rotation for the foreseeable future.
Thybulle, as he recently tended to do, made some defensive plays on the eyebrows. He blocked two Walker jumpers and recovered impressively to disrupt the Celtics guard.
Harris an All-Star? If he keeps shooting like that …
Embiid said Tobias Harris “should be an All-Star” after Wednesday’s win, and Harris once again supports the early internal buzz with 23 points on 10 to 12 shooting, an evening that improves his already stellar efficiency numbers. Harris entered the evening with nearly 50/40/90 shooting.
The trademark of his play early in the season was simplicity. On the rare moments when he tried an advanced dribble move or two on Friday and did not create space, he mostly moved the ball to an open teammate instead of forcing something difficult or complicated.
If he played well, as usual through his first 13 games, there is not much to say. This is a better situation for the Sixers than worrying about Harris’ suitability, his role or why he did not play as he did during his best career with Rivers and the Clippers.