76ers (0-0) at Celtics (0-0) Game #1 10/22/25

[jambr380]

Happy to see Queta having an impact. I?ve been singing his praise ever since we first signed him. He has by far the highest ceiling of any big on our roster and we are going to need his defense at the rim and his rim rolling on offense. He?ll make mistakes, but he?s just so much better than Tillman and Garza that we?ll need him for big minutes

[NextCeltic34]

Hauser was dreadful tonight. He can't guard and if he isn't making 3s there is no reason he should play big minutes let alone start.

Problem with this team is there will be no easy games. Every possession will be a grinder on both ends. They will play hard but lack talent.

Too many guys on this roster that just aren't good having to play minutes.

I wouldn't have been mad moving him in off season

You can't have this emphasis on not allowing offensive rebounds and having Hauser start at the 4

I don't understand why Boucher wasn't in there

[Atzar]

Nice game from JB.  He played mostly under control, made some solid passes.  Efficient shooting, 50% for the game, 25 pts on 18 shots.  I hope he can keep developing as a playmaker.

Good for a #2 hes a number 1 now, needed more from him sadly

Yeah, I agree, he looked like a good #2. He was under control, but he just didn?t seem to impose his will out there. People are mad that Brown didn?t get a last shot, well, he needs to demand the ball and be that guy.

Something to build off of, and hopefully he is just getting his feel with the new team, but this is a great opportunity for Jaylen

It looked like the ATO at the end of the game was drawn up for him but he just couldn't shake his guy.  Pritchard was a secondary option.

I don't think JB is the same explosive athlete that he was two years ago.  That meniscus injury seems like it took a step from him, and I'm sure the hammy tweak doesn't help either.  Says something about his growth that he's still an effective player despite that, I suppose.

[scaryjerry]

17-7 run to end the game for Philly sounds way too familiar...Brown tried taking over in the end and Failed Badly. No shots for White at the end and we had Maxey with 5 Fouls since the 3rd and we didn't take advantage...WEAK.

Awful shooting too, we should have won this game easily.

Yup, agreed with everything. I know some Celtics fans always want to be positive which is fine but losing a very winnable home/season opener against what I think is a bad team is absolutely not a good sign no matter how you wanna spin it

[slamtheking]

tonight's hot takes:
the good
- Q looked really good tonight.  pretty solid D and rebounding.  factor on offense.  needs to work on staying out of foul trouble but with the porous D the rest of the team played, that may not be possible.
- Jaylen was very efficient on offense and passed well -- just didn't get the assists due to bricklaying teammates.
- Tillman looked like an actual functional player, until the end.  his offense is still awful though
- White looked good with the exception of the outside shooting. 
- Simons can score
- Boucher and Minott were solid on the floor.  need more from them though

the bad
- PP didn't provide any offense or even his usual spark.  the end of the game was horrid.
- Hauser was a complete dud.  not enough scoring and a few bad plays
- Garza hustled but didn't provide enough D or rebounding
- Simons can't defend (except for that chase down to strip the ball)

not sure what to make of Joe.  had the team playing hard which is great but he couldn't coach them to keep the lead in the 4th or into a good position to win the game at the end.  still don't see him as a good coach

[Celtics Mike]

Just catching up with the score during my lunch break in Tokyo. By all accounts another blown lead and a brutal loss.

[Phantom255x]

4th quarters are going to be a problem for this team. And also, the defense is my bigger concern even more than scoring and rebounding. Yeah rebounding will suck in a lot of games but it's these smaller, shifty young guards/wings that'll give us trouble in most games, and it was the same thing tonight.

Now yeah, I guess we could shoot better especially from behind the arc but that's kind of what we lose with Tatum being hurt and also losing Horford/KP. Jaylen isn't a "lethal" 3 point shooter and it's also not a good formula if Tillman is jacking them up, teams will be perfectly okay with that. Outside of the Big 3 (White, PP, Jaylen) and I guess Simons we don't have many other consistent threats so jacking them up may not even work this season like it did the last two.

[celticinorlando]

Biggest takeaways:

-This team will not be able to guard quick guards that can get to the rim. Cunningham, Maxey, Mitchell, SGA, Brunson, etc.
-Hauser cannot start nor get heavy minutes.
-JB was good until he got greedy in the 4th and played hero ball. He is more of a Robin than Batman. Just not really a true #1.

-Rebounding will be tough all year

Just too many guys having to play outside the roles they are good at. Some guys having to play that really should not play at all.

Would rather see Boucher start over Hauser.

Salute the effort but this roster is just not any good.

Walsh won't be on this team next season. Been here several years and didn't step on the floor. Same with Baylor.

Tillman has zero lift.

Not having a big that can make 3s is a poison pill.

Not enough 3 point shooting on this team. JB is not really a consistent 3 point shooter so that leaves you with PP, Simons, White and Hauser (who is pretty much unplayable if he can't hit shots).

Not sure what to make of Simons. He can't defend a traffic cone and really is a chucker.

Disappointing 2 small guards, one a rookie scored like 80 points. Sixers have no one else worth a crap and the Cs had no chance.

[Muzzy66]

Nice game from JB.  He played mostly under control, made some solid passes.  Efficient shooting, 50% for the game, 25 pts on 18 shots.  I hope he can keep developing as a playmaker.

Good for a #2 hes a number 1 now, needed more from him sadly

Yeah, I agree, he looked like a good #2. He was under control, but he just didn?t seem to impose his will out there. People are mad that Brown didn?t get a last shot, well, he needs to demand the ball and be that guy.

Something to build off of, and hopefully he is just getting his feel with the new team, but this is a great opportunity for Jaylen

It looked like the ATO at the end of the game was drawn up for him but he just couldn't shake his guy.  Pritchard was a secondary option.

I don't think JB is the same explosive athlete that he was two years ago.  That meniscus injury seems like it took a step from him, and I'm sure the hammy tweak doesn't help either.  Says something about his growth that he's still an effective player despite that, I suppose.

Honestly, I just don't think Brown is a #1 guy. I don't think he has the first-step quickness, the ball handling skills or the tough shot making ability to consistently carry an offence, and I also don't think he has the BBIQ or vision to be able to effectively handle double teams/traps if teams start throwing them at him.

This is not any attempt at knocking Brown, he's an excellent player.  It's really hard to be an Alpha guy in this league.  I think a lot of people just Tatum harshly forgetting that when he's out there on the court, teams throw absolutely EVERYTHING at him. JT rarely ever seens anything resembling an open look.  Teams design their entire offense around slowing him down. 

Over the years Tatum has improved his ball handling, he's improved his passing, he's improved his decision making - he's started to learn how to break double teams, how to deal with traps, how to pass out of double teams, how to counter various types of defensive schemes.  He's a very high skill player and IMO has much higher BBIQ then people give him credit for, and that's allowed him to make those adjustments.

JB has never really had to do that because Tatum has been extremely durable and has rarely missed extended time.  Tatum draws so much attention that JB gets his share of open shots, and is playing against single coverage the overwhelming majority of the time, and I really think that allows him to thrive. 

With Tatum out teams WILL treat JB as the new Tatum and will focus on him a lot more aggressively defensively - time will tell if he has the skill and the IQ to make adjustments the way Tatum has. 

I actually don't know if we WANT JB to go out trying to be that guy.  I can potentially see three guys on this team (JB, White and Pritchard) averaging 20 PPG - give or take - if they move the ball and play as a team.  Maybe that is the better way for this team to play. 

There will be times when JB will have favourite matchups or will have a hot hand and he'll have huge games, I just don't know if he's the guy you can throw expectations on to deliver that every night.


P.s.
Did we just allow a rookie to score 34 on 50% shooting in his first NBA game?  That's brutal.

[radiohead]

PP had a bad shooting game. I wouldn?t be surprised if Joe goes with Simons as the starter next game. I mean Simons is used to starting and PP excels as a super 6th man anyway? And with how Joe is shuffling his guys, starting wouldn?t really mean much in my opinion.

[Yuckabuck33]

Good game. I'm actually pleased with the effort. Need to clean up in those silly fouls, but overall I think the Cs will only get better and will surprise lots of people.

That?d be cool and all but they literally sold off there contending roster to save the owners money?they don?t even deserve to be good, and will likely be mediocre at best

Let's be real here. They sold off their contending roster because the NBA made them do it with their stupid 2nd apron rules. The NBA is proud that there have been 7 different champions in the last 7 years. It's perverse. What if the league made the Celtics trade McHale and Parish after 1985 just because Bird had 2 titals?

[0003323344]

Edgecombe is really good.  Sixers got an amazing player there.  Him and Maxey just torching the C's when guard defense was supposed to be a strength of the team. 

Nice game from Queta.  If he can play like this consistently, he will end up as a nice player.

Edgecomb's 34 points in his debut was the most since Wilt's 43 points in 1959 and the third most in a debut all time.

The 74 combined points by Edgecomb and Maxey were tied for the second most in a season opener in NBA history.

[President Red]

What?s with the overhead aerial view. It?s quite dizzying haha!

NBA television producers just can't accept that normal camera angle is the perfect camera angle and we don't need to experiment with these wierd camera spots.

Exactly.  Fine to see a replay at that angle to get another perspective, but I never want to see it again in actual game action.

[ozgod]

Didn't see the game, have to watch the replay today...Gary Washburn from the Globe seemed very unhappy with them in his write up of the result. Apparently they crapped the bed the last 3 minutes and gave the game away with silly fouls. He singled out Jaylen in particular with 3 fouls in the last quarter. Says they have a lot of growing up to do and are a flawed team. He said we bombed away from 3, White and PP were 5 of 20, and our defense was terrible. Says the team still can't close, and vulnerability will be the key word to describe them this year.

Vulnerability is going to be a constant theme in this transition season. While the Celtics entered nearly every game for the past 10 years with a better than average chance to win, that won?t be the case this year.

This team has the same late-game struggles as last year?s squad. The 76ers countered with a 15-2 run and the Celtics shot 1 for 6 with two turnovers. Once again, they were hoping the visitors would fold, falling into the narrative that the Celtics needed this win more. Boston backed into adversity in the final minutes instead of seizing the moment.

A team still trying to find its swagger and identity played like a bunch of JV players when it counted. The hope is the Celtics learn from this experience, but there could be numerous learning opportunities in the first few months as chemistry develops.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/23/sports/nba-celtics-sixers-jaylen-brown/

Obviously a 1 point loss will hurt, but was it a fair take?

[scaryjerry]

Didn't see the game, have to watch the replay today...Gary Washburn from the Globe seemed very unhappy with them in his write up of the result. Apparently they crapped the bed the last 3 minutes and gave the game away with silly fouls. He singled out Jaylen in particular with 3 fouls in the last quarter. Says they have a lot of growing up to do and are a flawed team. He said we bombed away from 3, White and PP were 5 of 20, and our defense was terrible. Says the team still can't close, and vulnerability will be the key word to describe them this year.

Vulnerability is going to be a constant theme in this transition season. While the Celtics entered nearly every game for the past 10 years with a better than average chance to win, that won?t be the case this year.

This team has the same late-game struggles as last year?s squad. The 76ers countered with a 15-2 run and the Celtics shot 1 for 6 with two turnovers. Once again, they were hoping the visitors would fold, falling into the narrative that the Celtics needed this win more. Boston backed into adversity in the final minutes instead of seizing the moment.

A team still trying to find its swagger and identity played like a bunch of JV players when it counted. The hope is the Celtics learn from this experience, but there could be numerous learning opportunities in the first few months as chemistry develops.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/23/sports/nba-celtics-sixers-jaylen-brown/

Obviously a 1 point loss will hurt, but was it a fair take?

I mean it?s completely spot on and something I?m not seeing talked about here, they had this game won and then choked it away against a bad team, and gave up 74 points to maxey and a player playing in his first nba game.
Terrible sign will be lucky to win 30 games