Celtics (43-17) at 76ers (39-19) Game #61 2/25/23

[RodyTur10]

I am starting to think White has more of a case of starting than Smart, or at least playing more minutes. Smart is probably our best defender BUT he is limited on offense, whereas White can play solid defense AND be a huge impact on offense. Not just with scoring, but the overall decision-making where at times Smart has been dreadful since coming back

I will keep saying it until it happens — the starting lineup should be Smart-White-Brown-Tatum and whomever is feeling spryer of Rob and Al.

I’d also love to see a Smart-White-Brogdon-Brown-Tatum closing lineup at some point.  I think that could resemble the Warriors lineup of death from a few years ago.  We’ve only had 3 minutes of it this season, but it’s had a +25 net rating, so it deserves another appearance.

I agree 100%. Especially with our roster construction it's a shame to have both White and Brogdon coming from the bench. Especially White has been playing like a borderline All Star, is a two-way player, who makes others better and can play more minutes.

[Phantom255x]

Sixer fans saying they are not worried about Boston after tonight. Boston played about a B- or C game and still won.

Philly fans in all sports are just idiots.

That city is home to the worst fans in sports, period

Jaylen said postgame that when they were entering the arena, PHI fans were saying they hoped he "tore his ACL"  during the game. It's all over social media and the news too.

Also, I'm reading some of Liberty Ballers and Sixers Reddit, and LOL I can't. These people actually think the refs helped the C's in the 4th and that they didn't get enough calls. I just can't 

A 35-12 FT difference, and Embiid basically being gifted FTs down the stretch (as usual) 

Eh, I don’t know about Reddit, but I didn’t see much ref blaming on LB, as there’s just no reasonable justification for that.

What I did see is a bunch of them feeling encouraged after the loss, which I found astounding. Neither of the Jays made their average points, with JT having one of his worst nights ever. We played mediocre to poor overall, and for the most part Philly played really well and had a major advantage in officiating, while being at home.

Not exactly sure how you can come away confident from that. Yes, Embiid looks dominant enough to get his, but I think Joe’s gameplan was smart in that respect to let him get his and try to limit everyone else. They just don’t have enough around him to make it work against us.

All that said, I think I still definitely prefer a Cavs, Nets, or NYK second round opponent than the Sixers. I think the top three teams are locked in now, with only who is going to be 1 up for stake. It will be imperative to keep that seeding moving forward to make it as easy as possible for ourselves.

Actually, I've noticed on LB, it seems they removed some comments? There's less comments than when I checked before but also, I was going to post an example I saw on LB but I don't see it anymore and I don't see that poster's comments on the thread either. Idk if something happened.

Yeah I agree. It's also painfully obvious that Sixers team without Embiid is toast, even with Harden out there. I also notice Harden doesn't seem to be in the best shape. Like even on some of those breakaways (like the Jaylen dunk to make it 91-83), I don't even think Jaylen sprinted that hard but Harden was slow to it and had a bad angle, so it was an easy open dunk for JB. Harden also doesn't look as shifty in his drives to the basket anymore which is a lethal skill he had in the prime Houston days.

The best path IMO is getting the 1 seed and playing ATL first round (in all likelihood), then CLE/BKN, then MIL with HCA. Whereas with 2 seed, it'd likely be NYK or MIA, then PHI, then MIL without HCA. Pretty big difference if you ask me

[Mahk E Mahk]

Sixer fans saying they are not worried about Boston after tonight. Boston played about a B- or C game and still won.

Philly fans in all sports are just idiots.

That city is home to the worst fans in sports, period

Jaylen said postgame that when they were entering the arena, PHI fans were saying they hoped he "tore his ACL"  during the game. It's all over social media and the news too.

Also, I'm reading some of Liberty Ballers and Sixers Reddit, and LOL I can't. These people actually think the refs helped the C's in the 4th and that they didn't get enough calls. I just can't 

A 35-12 FT difference, and Embiid basically being gifted FTs down the stretch (as usual) 

Eh, I don’t know about Reddit, but I didn’t see much ref blaming on LB, as there’s just no reasonable justification for that.

What I did see is a bunch of them feeling encouraged after the loss, which I found astounding. Neither of the Jays made their average points, with JT having one of his worst nights ever. We played mediocre to poor overall, and for the most part Philly played really well and had a major advantage in officiating, while being at home.

Not exactly sure how you can come away confident from that. Yes, Embiid looks dominant enough to get his, but I think Joe’s gameplan was smart in that respect to let him get his and try to limit everyone else. They just don’t have enough around him to make it work against us.

All that said, I think I still definitely prefer a Cavs, Nets, or NYK second round opponent than the Sixers. I think the top three teams are locked in now, with only who is going to be 1 up for stake. It will be imperative to keep that seeding moving forward to make it as easy as possible for ourselves.

from what i read, i think their optimism is based on a misguided sense that the J’s didn’t have off games, but instead, the sixers have figured out how to defend the J’s and force the “supporting cast” to beat them, which won’t occur consistently enough over a seven game series.

lunacy but they are sixers fans. 

[hwangjini_1]

Celtics own Philly. What a great play Mazz drew up at the end. Give credit where credit is due.

Exactly. And that is exactly why you take the timeout in that situation, which he has tended to not do this season. Even you have to admit that. 

death, taxes, and ......... jpotter disliking joe's use of timeouts.   

Hey, hey, hey - get it right. This is me saying I DID like his use of the timeout there 😂

ha ha ha...indeed you did. so a tp for you. 

[SparzWizard]

Loved that Al Horford 3 with a minute to go. Silencing his former team at their turf. They must hate him that badly now 

[Kuberski33]

Nice win on the road considering that they struggled for so much of this game. I only have two comments. One is that contrary to what has been speculated here - rumors of Rob's decline have been greatly exaggerated. The guy we saw last night is the one who'll be needed vs these guys and Milwaukee.

The 2nd is that one nice thing about Joe being your coach - you never have to worry about not having enough time outs left to use at the end of the game.  Doc probably would have liked an extra one.

[gouki88]

Derrick White was huge off the bench. He’s been so good Lately.

Derrick White in 2022: 10/3/3, shooting 45/38/86.

Derrick White in 2023: 15/5/4 on 47/41/86 shooting.

Then we have Brogdon, calmly averaging 15/4/4 on league-best 3PT shooting. These two are such a good combo! Another huge aspect is their durability, with White having played our most games and Brogdon our 5th most.

[SHAQATTACK]

Tatum stole Philly’s soul .

[ozgod]

Sixer fans saying they are not worried about Boston after tonight. Boston played about a B- or C game and still won.

Philly fans in all sports are just idiots.

That city is home to the worst fans in sports, period

Jaylen said postgame that when they were entering the arena, PHI fans were saying they hoped he "tore his ACL"  during the game. It's all over social media and the news too.

Also, I'm reading some of Liberty Ballers and Sixers Reddit, and LOL I can't. These people actually think the refs helped the C's in the 4th and that they didn't get enough calls. I just can't 

A 35-12 FT difference, and Embiid basically being gifted FTs down the stretch (as usual) 

Well these are the people that booed Santa Claus and threw snowballs at him. Here's how they treated Vikings fans who went to cheer for their team against the Eagles in 2018:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl22Hh7z7og

I hope those lemons still taste especially bitter 2 days after the loss 

[Phantom255x]

While I'd still prefer to play a team like CLE/BKN/NYK 2nd round, I'm not really scared of PHI either. I think we can take them rather easily in 5 games actually. I think PHI played one of their best games against us and they still lost at home with JT being meh

[RMO]

While I'd still prefer to play a team like CLE/BKN/NYK 2nd round, I'm not really scared of PHI either. I think we can take them rather easily in 5 games actually. I think PHI played one of their best games against us and they still lost at home with JT being meh

I'm not too scared of Philly either, I just find the games so boring to watch.  Embiid is constantly at the free throw line.

[Who]

While I'd still prefer to play a team like CLE/BKN/NYK 2nd round, I'm not really scared of PHI either. I think we can take them rather easily in 5 games actually. I think PHI played one of their best games against us and they still lost at home with JT being meh

More worried about CLE than PHI.

Not worried at all about BKN or NYK. They are one and done level teams. We'd be lucky to get them in the 2nd round. Easy series. Sweeps.

[RMO]

While I'd still prefer to play a team like CLE/BKN/NYK 2nd round, I'm not really scared of PHI either. I think we can take them rather easily in 5 games actually. I think PHI played one of their best games against us and they still lost at home with JT being meh

I'm not too scared of Philly either, I just find the games so boring to watch.  Embiid is constantly at the free throw line.

As I've thought about it, I'm not scared of Philly in that I think the Celtics would beat them in a series.  What would concern me though is that any series with them would be a physical one and that could affect the Celtics later (even if it's only a five game series).