Observations after Sixers fail to win season series vs. Celtics, lose in Boston
The Sixers couldn’t cement a season series win over the Celtics on Sunday night.
They fell to a 114-98 loss in Boston, meaning they split their four-game series against the Eastern Conference’s current No. 2 seed. The Celtics improved to 40-20 and the Sixers dipped to 33-27.
Tyrese Maxey had 33 points and six assists. VJ Edgecombe added 23 points and five rebounds.
Celtics center Neemias Queta set a new career high with 27 points and also recorded 17 rebounds. Star forward Jaylen Brown had 27 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.
Joel Embiid was out with a right oblique strain. He’ll also miss the Sixers’ upcoming back-to-back on Tuesday vs. the Spurs and Wednesday vs. the Jazz.
Here are observations on the Sixers’ defeat to the Celtics:
Same rebounding story
The Sixers jumped out to an 8-2 lead thanks to a Kelly Oubre Jr. floater and three-pointers from Maxey and Edgecombe.
Maxey attacked often off the dribble in the first quarter, especially early in the shot clock. He attempted 11 field goals in the opening period.
Dominick Barlow, Andre Drummond and Adem Bona all had put-back layups within the first eight minutes. Led by Queta, the Celtics did even more early damage on the offensive glass. Half of Boston’s 26 first-quarter points were of the second-chance variety.
Queta was downright dominant in the first half. His stellar night doesn’t all fall on Drummond, but the Sixers obviously need their veteran big man to be stronger on the defensive boards when Embiid sits.
Overall, the Sixers’ offensive rebounding has been far superior to their defensive rebounding during all three seasons under head coach Nick Nurse. They entered Sunday ranked eighth this season in offensive rebounding rate and 28th in defensive rebounding rate, according to Cleaning the Glass.
Some of that can be chalked up to the strengths and weaknesses of the Sixers’ personnel. It’s also characteristic of Nurse’s core style of play. He likes to be aggressive in trying to force turnovers and doesn’t discourage players from crashing for offensive boards.
Again, the Sixers’ struggles on the defensive glass stick out as a potential problem area in the playoffs.
Leaning heavily on Maxey
The Celtics started 2 for 12 from three-point range but still pulled ahead early in the second quarter.
Maxey and Nurse appeared to grow increasingly displeased with the lack of whistles for the Sixers’ All-Star guard. He didn’t have much success from the floor in the first half, shooting 4 for 18.
Though Maxey forced up a few, he mostly took clean looks. On nights that he’s the sole available star and opposing defenses don’t swarm him with hard double teams, the Sixers want Maxey to be a high-volume shooter. Sometimes their offense simply hinges on whether or not his shots are dropping. He finished with a season-high 34 field goal attempts and missed 22.
Maxey made an and-one layup with 43 seconds let in the second quarter to cut the Sixers’ deficit to seven points. However, the Celtics closed the first half with a buzzer-beating Baylor Scheierman triple and built their lead as high as 16 points early in the third quarter.
No opening-night magic
The Sixers deviated from their third-quarter norm and tightened the contest.
Along with Maxey, who found his shooting touch, Edgecombe played a key part. After knocking down a three, Edgecombe grabbed a rebound and tossed the ball ahead to Maxey for a fast-break layup. A Maxey three with 2.2 seconds left in the third quarter brought the Sixers to within six points.
As was the case against the Knicks, Edgecombe played two impressive road games his rookie year against the Celtics. While Boston showed greater respect for Edgecombe’s jumper than on opening night, he still shot 11 three-pointers and sunk five. Over the Sixers’ two games this season in Boston, Edgecombe had 57 points, 12 rebounds and six assists.
Barlow also duplicated his high-quality outing from the opener, posting 14 points, eight rebounds and three steals.
Nurse closed with Quentin Grimes over Barlow. Grimes had a quiet game, tallying five points on 2-for-5 shooting and two assists in 27 minutes. Cameron Payne remained the Sixers’ other bench guard and only played five scoreless minutes. The Sixers also didn’t receive much production from Oubre, who scored just four points on 2-for-10 shooting.
The Sixers hung around and trailed by six points with a little over four minutes to go, but they didn’t have their opening-night comeback magic. They missed late jumpers, the Celtics kept snagging important offensive boards, and Boston ultimately had no need to sweat the final possessions.
