Boston Celtics: Top 10 games from the first half of 2019-20
3. 2/1 vs Philadelphia 76ers
Result: Win (116-95)
0-3 against the Philadelphia 76ers this season. Kemba Walker out of the game. What could go wrong?
Well, from the 76ers’ perspective, a lot of things could actually go wrong. On the other end, nothing was going wrong for Boston.
Boston needed to approach this game with an underdog mentality and a level of swagger that they hadn’t shown previously. Luckily for all fans in attendance, that’s exactly what happened.
The Celtics dominated this game from the opening tip. Just to illustrate, here is a clip of Tatum dunking over an old friend in the first quarter:
😱 JAYSON TATUM 😱 pic.twitter.com/S8eNhLQiNQ
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) February 2, 2020
Tatum actually joked in an interview earlier in the year that he wanted to dunk on Horford. Safe to say he can check that off of his bucket list. As the year goes on, there’s a strong chance he’ll be checking off a few more things, too.
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The game wasn’t entirely pretty for Boston, as the 76ers made a run at the end of the first half, thanks to the play of Ben Simmons. However, the Jays were a problem for Philly, as they combined for 57 points.
Their depth was tremendous as well, with three more players scoring in double figures, two of which were off the bench. Those two were Brad Wanamaker and Semi Ojeleye. For Ojeleye especially, the team always benefits when he is able to find his offense. Hos defense is always solid, but when he brings an offensive element to his game, he can be quietly lethal.
The main storyline, yet again, was defense. Joel Embiid, the renowned Celtics killer, shot 1-of-11 as Boston threw different looks at him all night, and the SIxers couldn’t adjust. With the lack of size that Boston has on the roster, smart double teams are key, and Boston threw Embiid off of his game with different looks he just wasn’t ready for.
As a team, Philadelphia shot just 36 percent, hardly an acceptable number to compete in any contest.
Credit to Boston’s defense, which once again put on a show at an elite level. That seems to be the trend for most of these games.