That was an utter slaughter. The Boston Celtics showed they aren’t going to get pushed aside by the 76ers as they humbled Philly 121-87 to tie the series 1-1 and take back all the momentum.
I don’t think we’ll see a blowout that bad for the rest of the postseason.
The Boston Celtics halted the utter sports calamity that has swept the city of Boston these last few days (I’m looking at you, Bruins!) as they destroyed the 76ers 121-87 to not only tie the series, but also cast a lot of doubt in the minds of the Philly fanbase about their prospects of reaching the Conference Finals. Why is that? Well, it’s because the new, reigning MVP Joel Embiid made his return last night…and he didn’t look good.
Okay, I say he didn’t look good by his MVP standards (he averaged 33.1 PPG, 10.2 RPG, 4.2 APG, 1.7 BPG, 1.0 SPG, 54.8% FG shooting), but it really wasn’t a classic Embiid performance. That knee brace really made him look unsteady on his feet as he fell down a few times on his own, while it seemed like he also couldn’t really jump either.
Sure, he was able to get a foot or two off the ground when needed, but his 15 PTS, 3 REB, 3 AST showed he wasn’t able to dominate the paint as normal.
And, before someone says still blocked 5 shots on a bum knee to disprove me, I’d like to point out those blocks mainly came in the first half when the Celtics were still testing him. The 35-point explosion in the 3rd quarter showed that the C’s figured out how to attack a wounded Embiid and exploit the 76ers rotation weaknesses.
But, before I get to that, let me just say that it wasn’t only Embiid who looked really bad yesterday. It was everybody on the 76ers.
Not only did the entire roster (every 76ers but Montrezl Harrell played last night as the benches were cleared early) have less than 20 individual points (including Harden, Embiid, Harris, and Maxey), but the 76ers themselves posted a season low 87-point tally.
Coming off a career playoff game, Harden reverted back into the guy we’ve seen all year long as he posted 12 PTS, 10 REB, 4 AST, shot 2/14 from the field, and 0/6 from the 3-point line. Meanwhile, Tobias Harris only had 16 PTS, Tyrese Maxey was woeful from the field with 13 PTS, 6/14 shooting from the field (42.9%), and 1/4 from the 3-point line (25%), and the defense gave up a season-high 20 3-pointers.
Along with 43/92 made FGs (46.7%), that game ended up as a shooting gallery for the Celtics as Jaylen Brown (25 PTS, 3 REB, 4 AST, 2 STL, 1 BLK), Malcolm Brogdon (23 PTS, 6 REB, 2 AST, 1 BLK), Derrick White (15 PTS, 1 REB, 1 AST), Marcus Smart (15 PTS, 5 REB, 2 AST, 1 STL, 1 BLK), and Grant Williams (12 PTS, 4 REB, 4 AST, 1 STL) WENT OFF!
And, to make this blowout win even more shocking, Jayson Tatum, who is easily one of the ten best players in the NBA and the best on the Celtics, had only 7 PTS, 7 REB, 3 AST, 1/7 (14.3%) FG shooting, and 0/3 (0%) 3-point shooting. It really was one of the more surprising blowouts I’ve seen in these playoffs yet as this game was pretty close at halftime as the C’s held a respectable 57-49 lead.
But that obviously grew once the last two quarters began.
Nevertheless, unlike most of the media talking heads, I didn’t overreact to the 76ers going into Boston and winning Game 1 with a last-second shot from James Harden, so I’m not going to overreact to this win either. It’s still way too early to predict who will win this series, but I have to give the edge to the Celtics if this is the best version of Joel Embiid we’ll see.
He said after the game that his injury would normally take 4-6 weeks to recover from, so I’m not confident he’ll actually be able to make the impact needed for the 76ers to win this series. Sure, Harden can go off and steal a game or two, but I highly doubt he still has the legs or consistency to win four games by himself against a Celtics team that looked a lot hungrier and fiercer than in Game 1 if Embiid can only play 25 minutes and produce 10-15 PTS.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see if I’m right.
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