76ers vs. Celtics: Recapping Saturday Night’s Matchup

The Sixers and the Celtics faced off for the third time this season on Saturday night.

Coming off of an intense battle in a playoff-like atmosphere in South Philly against the Memphis Grizzlies, the Philadelphia 76ers returned to the court on Saturday night to face the Boston Celtics.

In their first two outings against the Celtics this season, the Sixers struggled, even while facing a Boston team that missed three starters going into the matchup.

Saturday’s game served as a barometer for the Sixers, who are out to prove they can contend for the Eastern Conference title. Entering the game, the Sixers were riding a five-game win streak. Meanwhile, the Celtics were on a two-game win streak and won eight of their last ten. 

With a late tip-off on Saturday, the Sixers searched for their first victory over their Atlantic Division rival. 

Raining Threes

The Sixers came out playing like they had something to prove. Unlike Thursday’s game, the Sixers were finding success from the field early and made it rain from deep.

As a team, the Sixers attempted seven three-pointers, one fewer than the Celtics. Both teams found success from deep as Boston hit four of their threes. 

For the Sixers, the veteran forward Tobias Harris caught fire. As he knocked down all but one of his three threes, Harris collected 12 points in his first 11 minutes on the floor. Joel Embiid was right behind him, scoring eight points by knocking down three of his six shots.

While Philadelphia had an impressive 10-3 start, the Celtics managed to keep the game within one possession. By the end of the first quarter, Philadelphia led the charge with a score of 30-28. 

Changing Leads

The Celtics entered the second quarter in a position to potentially change the lead of the game. It was only one minute before they had the game tied at 30. After knotting the score, the Celtics formed a rather quick 9-2 run to take the lead.

Trailing 43-38, the Sixers kept the game within reach in the second quarter. Soon enough, PJ Tucker would hit a pull-up three-pointer, which gave the Sixers a one-point lead. From then on, the Sixers put together a run of their own to build a slight lead.

When Embiid returned to the floor after a short rest, the big man started to flash offensive dominance. He finished the first half by draining six of his 11 shots from the field, scoring 20 points. Meanwhile, the Sixers got a strong effort on the glass by PJ Tucker, as he collected 11 rebounds in 17 minutes of action. 

Through the first half, the Sixers led the Celtics 56-50.

Trouble Pulling Away

To no surprise, the Celtics weren’t going down easy. The Sixers managed to get up to a 15-point lead. Philly didn’t show any signs of taking their foot off the gas, but the Celtics kept the battle going. A quick 7-0 within a minute had the Celtics digging into the Sixers’ double-digit lead. 

The Sixers kept Embiid in for the entire third quarter, hoping his offensive star power would help the team pull away with their notable early lead in the second half. Boston had other plans, though. In the final few minutes of the third quarter, the Celtics constructed a 16-4 run. By the end of the quarter, the Celtics got themselves in the driver’s seat and had an 80-78 lead at the end of three.

A Turn Of Events

The Sixers look deflated in the first five minutes of action in the fourth quarter. After allowing the Celtics to go on a late third-quarter run and snag a slight lead, Boston took advantage of the opportunity and got off to a quick start in the fourth quarter by putting together an 11-5 run.

After a quick breather, Embiid was back on the floor looking to help Harden and the rest of his teammates out as offensive struggles persisted. Embiid’s presence didn’t create the boost they probably wanted right out of the gate, as the Sixers continued to go cold from the field, draining just 15 percent of their shots in the first five minutes.

It was only a matter of time before Embiid started making another late-game impact. Within the first few minutes on the floor, Embiid fired off 12 points. Once again, his defense was a major factor as he made some big plays to get the Sixers additional opportunities to produce points on the offensive end and form a comeback. With a little over two minutes left in the game, the Sixers got the game within one point. 

With 23 seconds left, the Sixers got the ball back after a shot clock violation. They would draw up a play to get the ball in Joel Embiid’s hands, which resulted in the big man getting sent to the line for two successful free throws. With those makes, Embiid tied the game up at 107 with ten seconds left to play. However, the Celtics answered back with a Jayson Tatum three in the final seconds. While Embiid made a half-court heave, he was late getting the shot off. The Celtics escaped South Philly with a 110-107 win.