The Philadelphia 76ers’ three-game win streak came to an end Sunday night, as all-too-familiar issues led to a 114-98 loss to the Boston Celtics. Tyrese Maxey led all scorers with an inefficient 33 points in 43 minutes for the Sixers.
Defensive and rebounding struggles continued to plague the team in the latest example of the team being unable to get out of its own way without Joel Embiid.
Once again, the Sixers exhibited terrible tendencies throughout this game. Whether it was their porous transition defense, their lack of rim protection, or their sheer inability to defend on-ball, the Sixers suffered from continuous mistakes that very much cost them any chance of a win. That’s not even mentioning the 19 offensive rebounds they gave up in this matchup, which led to plenty of second-chance opportunities for the Celtics.
There was far too little hustle, communication and desire throughout the game, but that’s been a frequent theme this season, especially in games without Embiid. At some point, it would have been nice to see an injection of Jabari Walker in an attempt to wake up the team that was, at certain points, sleepwalking through the game.
The Sixers' defensive scheme inherently is a gamble. Some nights, it works and looks brilliant, which is one of the reasons the Sixers are sixth in the league in steals. On other nights, typically against teams with a roster full of capable ball handlers and movers, the Sixers look lost defensively, allowing wide-open threes after wide-open threes by over-helping and playing far off their man in hopes of coming up with a turnover in the passing lane.
As much as the scheme is an issue, the players' inability to stick to their man when given the opportunity turns the entire problem into a chicken-or-egg dilemma.
While the first half was a compilation of the Sixers being unable to get out of their own way, the team managed to close the gap slightly in the third quarter, largely thanks to a much-improved second-half performance by Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe.
The backcourt tandem combined for 20 points in the third quarter as the Sixers managed to outscore the Celtics by six in a rare positive third-quarter performance. Unfortunately, this came before the team completely fell off a cliff offensively in the fourth.
The Maxey and Edgecombe backcourt has a bright future ahead of them, but tonight was a tough contest, even for arguably two of the best Sixers on the court.
Adem Bona’s stock is significantly up after his recent stretch of play, while Andre Drummond's has crashed and burned. As long as Joel Embiid is playing a significant role on this team, the Sixers will be a three-center team out of necessity. Bona has done enough to secure the primary backup minutes moving forward, but the team will need to add either a capable rim-protector/rebounder or a change-of-pace stretch big to replace Drummond after his contract expires this offseason.
While Drummond’s stock has nosedived over the course of this season, Trendon Watford’s has been uneven throughout but certainly trending in a negative direction as of late. The Sixers are short on shooters, especially after trading away Jared McCain. If Watford is going to make a positive impact, it cannot be so shot-averse. Watford has attempted just eight threes over his last ten games. He’s only made one of those eight attempts, so calling for him to shoot more may seem backwards, but it’s the only way to make his time on the court worthwhile.
As Cam Payne continues to struggle, he’s seeing his minutes begin to shrink. Defensively, he was no worse than Grimes or Oubre in this matchup. To benefit from his playmaking and occasional hot shooting, he has to play — and he has to handle the ball. That becomes more difficult in games without Embiid and Paul George, when Nick Nurse is nearly forced into three-guard lineups.
Philadelphia returns home for a back-to-back, taking on the San Antonio Spurs, followed by the Utah Jazz. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. on March 3.
Unless otherwise stated, all stats included in this article are via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass, Basketball Reference or Team Rankings. All salary information via Spotrac.
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