The Celtics Win Over The Undermanned Sixers Was One Of The Grossest Displays Of Basketball We've Ever Witnessed

Maddie Meyer. Getty Images.

It really is unfortunate that in 2 of the 3 meetings between PHI/BOS, one side was missing multiple key pieces. Not just rotation guys, but stars. In Game 2 it was the Celts without Porzingis/Jaylen, and last night it was the Sixers missing Embiid/Maxey. On the surface, that takes away some of the intrigue, because I think we all want to see these teams play with everyone healthy. The same is true with any big matchup. Fans want to see the stars out there.

We also know that in a game like this, it can be easy to overlook the opponent. When the Celts were without Porzingis/Jaylen, they went on the road and beat Embiid/Maxey/Harris/Melton etc by a score of 117-107. Shit, the Celts themselves have lost way too many games to count over the years when the other team was without their stars because they thought they could fuck around, show up and win. 

Once we knew Embiid/Maxey were out, my sole wish was that the Celts would not pull a Sixers and embarrass themselves on their home floor while having all their guys by losing to a team missing 50+ points of offense. I also know these are our beloved Celtics, who for whatever reason will never turn down an opportunity to make life harder on themselves just for fun. 

In the end, it was one of the grossest wins we'll probably see all year. One of those where you're grateful for the W, but also pretty disgusted with what you watched. I wouldn't say the Celts played all that well, in fact I'd say for 75% of the game they did nothing but play losing basketball. Zero defense, careless with the basketball, and the stars playing like shit, it was brutal. The one thing you can't do in a game like that is play with your food and let your undermanned opponent start to feel confident. That's how you wind up losing a game like this and bringing shame to your entire fanbase and franchise. 

After the final buzzer, my biggest takeaway was that I was relieved for the win, but I never wanted to see the Celts play like that again. That type of basketball against any NBA team with a pulse who isn't missing their two best players is easily a blowout loss. I think we can all universally agree that the Celts need to play better moving forward, but at the same time sometimes you have to win ugly. It's not always going to look great, and at the end of the day, 15-4 is 15-4. You don't get half a win because you looked like shit, they ultimately all count the same.

But before we can fully erase this game from our memories, we first have to talk about it. Let's begin.

The Good

- If you were someone who found yourself maybe being a little worried about Al Horford offensive through the first 9 games, I certainly wouldn't blame you. Coming off his brutal stretch shooting the ball down the stretch during the playoffs (33/24% over final 11 games), and then starting the first 9 games this season with 38/23% splits, I think any rational person would start to be concerned. Al was still so solid defensively, but at the end of the day for this team to work, Al has to make his open jumpers. At the very least, he cannot be shooting 23-24% from three. 

Then came Game 10. On the road, undermanned against Joel Embiid on November 15th. Immediately, Al snapped back into the Horford we know and love. He dominated Embiid defensively, shot 55/50% with 4 3PM and guess what? He's been incredible ever since

Over Horford's last 8 games (5 starts), he's giving the Celts 10.8/7.3/3.5/0.5/1.6 on 57/44% with 2.1 3PM in 28.9 minutes a night. Whatever worry you may have had to start the season, I can't imagine you still have it. It makes me very happy that Horford has beaten the "washed offensively" allegations, and for him to explode for 20/6/3 on 77/50% last night while also being effective defensively was truly special to watch. I'm pretty sure that outside of his own family, there is nothing in this world Al Horford loves more than shoving it right in Sixers' fans' faces. He becomes possessed whenever these two teams play and it's no secret why.

To get a sense of how Horford played, all you have to do is listen to his other son (not Embiid) sum it up perfectly

Lifetime contract. That's where I'm at with Al right now. I see a guy who easily has at least 5 more impactful seasons left in the tank, and just like with Hauser and Pritchard, Horford has clearly snapped out of his funk. That, is a very important detail moving forward.

- It's becoming more and more of a consistent feeling for me that I only feel comfortable with Derrick White touching the basketball. We're right in the middle of a situation where everyone on the team is turning the ball over at an insane rate. Guys are careless and make bad decisions essentially every other time down the floor. 

You know who I trust to make the right decision every time he touches the ball? Whether that's creating for himself or others? The answer is Derrick White. Tatum dribbling/passing right now? Hell no. Jaylen? Nope. Jrue? Not really. All I know is that when Derrick is on the floor and he's allowed to touch the ball and make the offensive decisions, good things happen

21/6/5 on 5-11 (3-4) while going 8-8 from the line and a team high +20 in his 32 minutes. The exact performance that has become the norm for White this season.

People realize what an awesome start Bald Derrick is off to right? Like we all sort of joked that now that he was bald and was solidified as a starter he would have a completely new and dominant type of season. The thing is………that's kind of exactly what's happened.

Mind you, White only takes 9.6 FGA a game. That's often a quarter total for Jaylen or Tatum. Even still, Bald Derrick has started his season with 14.3/3.9/5.1/1.1/0.8 on 46/40% split with 2.2 3PM. He's giving the Celtics All NBA caliber defense on one end, and then on the other is shooting 40% from deep while also being an 86% FT shooter. His 5.1 assists are the highest of his career, as are his 40.7% from deep and his 3.9 rebounds and 1.1 steals.

Yes, what you're thinking right now is correct. We're basically witnessing career year Derrick White. 

Derrick White evolving into Bald Derrick didn't just bring us an awesome season. It has unleashed the best season of his entire career. Coincidence? Don't be stupid. The work he's done to improve his jumper and his form, making sure he stays vertical and doesn't lean has completely changed him as a shooter, that's all fine and good. But Bald Derrick has brought a completely different mentality. This version is aggressive, and comfortable calling his own number at the right moments within the game. I can't say there are a ton of moments where I watch Derrick offensively and say to myself "man, he kind of forced that". Everything always seems to come within the flow of the offense. His isolation moments don't feel selfish or overdone. Neither do his pull up 3s. Everything in moderation is the best way I could explain it.

Pretty sure he also leads the NBA in +-, so yeah. Bald Derrick is something different.

- As crazy as it may be to hear, the Celtics do not win this game without the play of Payton Pritchard. Talk about a guy snapping out of his funk, Payton Pritchard has bounced back in a massive way since his brutal start.

Over his last 12 games Pritchard has clawed out of his slump with 8.5/3.3/2.5 on 45/40% splits in his 22 minutes. Everyone can exhale, he's back to looking like the 40% shooter the Celts are going to need him to be and who Brad probably expects him to be.

Watching him play it's pretty obvious that Pritchard has his confidence back, and that confidence makes all the difference in the world for a player like him. Not just when it comes to his jumpshot, but how he defends, how aggressive he is with the ball offensively outside of his catch & shoot opportunities. One of the more noticeable parts of his season so far is how much better Pritchard is at getting into the paint and then not panicking. Those used to be automatic turnovers for him but now we're seeing him take that leap as a playmaker. Given what his role now is on the team as the primary backup guard, he has to do both. He has to make his open 3s, and then there's going to be times where he has to run the offense. It's what we expected from Brogdon and it's what I think the expectations should be for Payton. The good news is he's good enough to where he can clearly live up to it.

Once Tatum got tossed, I think we were all wondering who was going to be the guy to step up over the final 12 minutes and close this game out. I don't know how many names you got to before him, but Payton Pritchard ended up being that guy. All 10 of his points in the 4th on 3-4 (2-3), a perfect 2-2 from the line with 1 steal and a +12 in his 10 minutes. It certainly wasn't the first time we've seen Pritchard put this team on his back, and my guess is it won't be the last.

- Everything about that fourth quarter deserves to be in this section. It was essentially a perfect quarter 

You had the Horford blocks, the Pritchard lob and 3s, the Jrue 3 and huge charge/steal. All of those were huge plays. Yet when I look at that picture above, I see something else that helps tell the story of that final quarter.

Again, with Tatum getting tossed in a close game before the 4th, I think we all said the same thing

"OK, time for Jaylen to step up and close this game out. This is what he's here for"

As it turned out, he did just that. The thing is, it probably wasn't in the way most were expecting. The most impressive part of this quarter was the fact that Jaylen didn't go into "me mode" and try and force things offensively. On a night where he didn't shoot well (8-20, 1-4), Jaylen took a step back when it was clear the others had it going. He played within the game. When it came time to make the extra pass, he made it. When it came time for him to shoot, he took a high percentage shot and made it. When it came time for him to make his 4th quarter FTs, he did. 

To me, that's growth not only as a player, but as a leader. It was a real life example of Jaylen struggling all night offensively, then being in a position where the best player needed to step up and help the team after the star got tossed, and not turning into a black hole. Instead, he played winning basketball. As it then turned out, it was the best Celtics quarter of the game it. Great moment.

- I continue to be intrigued by Neemias Queta's offensive rebounding. He just inhales them at an alarming rate. As far as I'm concerned the #3 big spot can be fluid. If Queta is doing things to help you, let's see him get some extended run in that spot while Porzingis is out.

- Even with how gross the Celts looked for the majority of this game, they still finished with 125 points on 50/48/86% splits as a team. That's fairly outrageous. Once they start doing that, it's very hard for the Celts to lose. I mean, since the start of last season (including playoffs) the Celtics are 47-4 when they hit at least 120 points. 

It's the magic number for a reason. 

- Sam Hauser off the bench with another 3-5 (3-4). It's crazy what a difference the splits are depending on if he starts or comes off the bench. I'm at the point where he should never be allowed to start again, just play him starter minutes if someone is out. He's too automatic as a bench shooter to mess with that right now. 

The Bad

- For the first 3 quarters, it was as if the Celts had completely forgotten how to play defense. Under no circumstances should we ever be subjected to a situation where a defensive backcourt of Jrue Holiday and Derrick White is allowing Patrick Beverley to completely dominate them. This isn't meant as shade against Pat Bev, but at no point did the Celtics defense even get close to making anything tough for him through the first 3 quarters. Pat Bev went wherever he wanted and got whatever he wanted. 

There is no excuse for giving up back to back 36 point quarters to open this game and 97 through 3. Giving up nearly 100 points in 3 quarters to a team missing their 2 best players is the very definition of embarrassing. Even if you want to say that this was just an out of body shooting experience by the Sixers, to me that's mostly a copout. The defense sucked ass for 3 quarters. That's what happened. Yeah there were some prayer shots at times including Mo Bamba making it rain from three, but the Celts also were pretty swiss cheese looking when it came to paint/rim points as well.

- Once again offensive rebounds were a problem. How do you let an undermanned team hang around? You fuck around on the glass. The Celts allowed 15 OREB for 16 2nd chance points, and everyone knows that giving a team 2nd and 3rd chances only ends in disaster. Whether it was Jaylen Brown simply not being able to grab an uncontested rebound, or Horford or Luke looking allergic to defensive rebounds, that was one of the most frustrating parts of this game. Box out and grab the fucking ball. This is Day 1 stuff. 

The evidence clearly shows that when the Celts get lazy on the glass, they lose. When they limit OREB, they win. Don't let the win last night fool you, this is still very much a problem.

- While I don't know if Payton was maybe tired and Joe tried to buy him a quick breather, the Kornet for Pritchard decision in the 4th did not work out. In fact, it was awful. Guys immediately started attacking Luke in space, he wasn't rebounding, they simply were not effective minutes. Then of course Pritchard comes back in and closes things out, but man things got dicey there for a second.

Had the Celts lost this game, you could probably look at that moment as a key factor why.

The Ugly

- I'm not sure where else you expected the 20 TOs to go. I mean holy shit is that pathetic. Very unserioius basketball is being played if you end up with 20 turnovers. Add in the 15 OREB and there's your game. The Sixers took 17 more shots (94-77) which is how they were able to stay close, and how do we think they got those shots?

Turnovers and offensive rebounds.

In no world is it acceptable for Jayson Tatum to have 7 TOs. Shit, he had more TOs than FGM before getting tossed. Then you have Jaylen (3) being careless with the ball early and Jrue (3) being careless with the ball late. It's not just the total either, it's the type of TOs that make this so infuriating. 

What the hell are these?

We also need to talk about what's currently going on with Tatum

His issue has certainly not been efficiency. Over his last 3 games, Tatum is shooting 50% from the field. That's great. What's not so great is he has 17 TOs. A brutal 5.7 a game. The number alone is bad, but watching what types of turnovers he has is what makes it more frustrating. He's simply been way too careless. He's the most important piece, the player who has the ball the most, I need to be able to trust that he isn't going to continuously throw the ball away like this. Turnovers are going to happen for primary playmakers, I get it. But not 17 in 3 games. Not simple dribbling turnovers. We already have that problem with Jaylen. I can't now also have to worry about that with Tatum as well. 

Add in getting tossed, it was not the best Tatum performance we've ever seen. He's in this weird 9 game rut which feels similar to how Tatum has historically started his season. It looked like maybe that wasn't going to be the case after his first handful of games, but what we're seeing recently is your typical early year Tatum. He's still giving you 25+ with relative ease, but it's also a time when he's going to coast/play braindead basketball. 

But as we said at the top of the blog, a win is a win is a win. It can be awesome, it can be ugly, it can be hideous, but as long as it's a W in the standings that's ultimately what we should all care about. Lord knows the Celts are going to have to play much better against an offense like IND and a player in Tyrese Haliburton who absolutely crushes the Celts, and there's no reason to think they won't. What could have been an embarrassing loss turned into an embarrassing win, so let's just turn the page and forget this ever happened and hope they never play this way again.