76ers

2023 - 4 - 5

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Image courtesy of "NBC Sports Boston"

Celtics vs. 76ers takeaways: Joel Embiid prevents C's season sweep (NBC Sports Boston)

Joel Embiid carried the 76ers to a 103-101 win over the Celtics with a monster 52-point performance. We share our takeaways from the potential playoff ...

The gap between the Bucks/Celtics and the rest of the East is significant. Boston (54-25) will also want to finish with a better record than the Western Conference-leading Denver Nuggets (52-27) to earn home-court advantage in the NBA Finals if they make it that far. 2 seed in the East. As long as Embiid isn't dropping 50 points per game in the playoffs, Boston will be fine. As of Tuesday night, he is the frontrunner to win the 2022-23 NBA MVP award. The rest of the Sixers roster combined to shoot 19-of-53 from the floor. Judging by how all four games of the season series have gone, the Celtics shouldn't lose any sleep over a possible second-round playoff matchup against Philadelphia. Sixers star Joel Embiid put on a show with 52 points to lead his team to its first win of the campaign against Boston in four meetings, 103-101. Boston nearly pulled off the season sweep despite missing two of its key players, Williams and Brown. He asserted his dominance early and often, tallying 18 points and seven rebounds in the first quarter alone. He notched a double-double (24 points, 10 boards) in the first half. Derrick White was the Celtics' leading scorer with 26 points.

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Image courtesy of "CelticsBlog"

A shorthanded loss: 10 Takeaways from Boston Celtics-Philadelphia ... (CelticsBlog)

Boston was without two key rotation players and it took a dominant performance before they fell at the buzzer.

Against both the Bucks and the Jazz, Tatum did a good job of reading the defense to set up his teammates. It’s the first of a two-game mini-series too. But this is a nice simulation of the playoffs, by seeing the same team twice in three days. On a team with the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, it’s remarkable that Derrick White has been the Celtics best defensive guard, and probably the best overall defensive player for Boston. The first time was Derrick White hitting a three when Grant Williams screened off his man to get him open directly on the inbounds pass. The other one came a couple of minutes later. It seems like the team has found a rhythm with Derrick White staying in the starting lineup and Rob Williams coming off the bench. It ended with Tobias Harris and Harden locked up in the corner: The first involved Grant Williams picking up James Harden on a switch. At the end of the day, it feels like the Celtics strategy against Embiid remains to throw different looks at him and varying their coverages. It was just a shorthanded loss in a great game against the likely NBA MVP. The single best individual defense of the night on Embiid came from Blake Griffin.

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Image courtesy of "ESPN Australia"

Joel Embiid leads 76ers past C's as Doc Rivers declares MVP race ... (ESPN Australia)

"We did so many things wrong," 76ers coach Doc Rivers said in summarizing his team's win over the rival Celtics on Tuesday night, "but what we did right was ...

"You got to be ready for every scenario. I think you know, if we could correct a lot of the mistakes that we made, we got a pretty good chance." You know, like I said, we found ways to basically lose that game, but a win is a win -- especially going into the playoffs. 2 seed, we might see them in the second round, if we make it there. Tonight, for me, was kind of disappointing because we found so many ways to lose the game, and that's on all of us. ... I could've been better, and we could've been better as a team. "But we got bigger goals." "So if you got any ideas, I think every other NBA team would like to know." Ultimately, though, it didn't matter, thanks to an iconic performance from Embiid. It looks like he's going to lead the league in scoring this year. He led the league in scoring last year. "He's been in contention for it the last few years.

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