Game 59 - 76ers vs Celtics - Feb 25th 8:30pm ET ABC

[76ciology]

If you believe Maxey is a 20ppg then we have a REALLY good chance in beating the Celtics.

This team won’t be competitive in a seven-game series against teams like that until it has a closer who can score at the ends of the close games they will inevitably play against those teams.

The other night against Memphis they needed highly improbable and largely non-replicable shots to fall to win. The will they displayed was certainly impressive, but the formula needed, in terms of improbable shot-making, wasn’t promising.

Then that improbability reared its ugly head against Boston, where they lost because of it.

Sixers have that it both Harden and Embiid. And our franchise probably wont get anything better than those two.

The problem is our bench.

[76ciology]

If you believe Maxey is a 20ppg then we have a REALLY good chance in beating the Celtics.

If you dont think we can beat the Celtics then it means you dont believe in Maxey. Its that simple.

This statement by Morey during the offseason is perfect. For now, Maxey is holding us back

Morey said there are 4 things needed for Sixers to have a chance to win championship

Guys 5-11 to be as good as they thought
Harden to be just good Harden, not even 2018 version
Embiid to be as good as he was in last 2 seasons
Maxey taking his game to another level.

The last one (about maxey) was the hardest and Morey thought Maxey has done it during the offseason

If Maxey is just a 16ppg player like last season, its season over.

[Bum Adebayo]

Im with Kobble, I think we can beat them when it matters.

Yes, and we've proven it many times, 1-4, 0-4...

With who? Ben Simmons?

The Celtics have never faced a Sixers team with both a top 10 offense and defense in a playoff series before. And James Harden is by far the best player Embiid has ever played with.

Well, James Harden was fairly MIA yesterday, it is what it is...

[76ciology]

[youtube] https://www.youtube.com/live/MUQVmyaE7eI?feature=share[/youtube]

[76ciology]

2 transition 3s by Al in the third and that big 3 Al had in the fourth were all due to bad defense by Tucker.

It wont happen again

[phillynative]

Exactly. A lot of overreactions to a 3 game sample size. There have been times when a team got swept in the season series, only to win in a playoff matchup over 7 games. It's not like we lost by 20 points last night.

It's a loser mentality. This franchise and fan base is filled with losers from top to bottom. Bunch of quitters, I'm not from Philly but even I at my most modest being a loser myself can see the culture for what it is.

The "whoa is me" attitude Philly fans have sometimes is very unbecoming. It's honestly not a good look. It reeks of mental fragility.

"Whoa is me" attitude gtfoh. A passionate fan base whos been through the trenches with multiple major sport teams in the city . We arent well received and we know that , not going to change, oh well .

[Mik317]

Biid, Harden and Maxey were fine-good in the clutch.

we lost off a tough shot by Tatum...that could have been made tougher with a taller defender on it or having someone blitz a double

not sure why after every loss the blame game has to start...sometimes you just lose lol. I think this roster isn't good enough but the fact that they fought back instead of just laying down is a good thing. They have shown that they can lock in and comeback from big deficits; which is something I didn't think we could do with this roster at the start of the year.

Maybe its due to me missing most of the game but I am not distraught after that loss for once

[Ferry Avenue]

Biid, Harden and Maxey were fine-good in the clutch.

we lost off a tough shot by Tatum...that could have been made tougher with a taller defender on it or having someone blitz a double

not sure why after every loss the blame game has to start...sometimes you just lose lol. I think this roster isn't good enough but the fact that they fought back instead of just laying down is a good thing. They have shown that they can lock in and comeback from big deficits; which is something I didn't think we could do with this roster at the start of the year.

Maybe its due to me missing most of the game but I am not distraught after that loss for once

I certainly don’t think every loss has a high degree of meaning associated with it and warrants a lot of post-game commentary, but I do think certain losses do.

Assuming home-court advantage is still at play and both teams will be playing at full strength and giving maximum effort, circle the April 4th game against Boston on your calendar. If they don’t make a strong statement in that one you can kiss the season goodbye.

[Stanford]

Good God, Derek and Spike were insufferable on the Ricky this morning. Shaming people for being pessimistic because the regular season doesn't matter, but then turning a regular season loss at home into a positive.

[Jailblazers7]

Good God, Derek and Spike were insufferable on the Ricky this morning. Shaming people for being pessimistic because the regular season doesn't matter, but then turning a regular season loss at home into a positive.

Boston really owns us so hard that we get excited when we avoid a blowout.

[Jay555]

Our starters outplayed theirs pretty much the whole game. It’s our bench that lost us the game.

They have Derrick White and Brogdom on the bench who I think could start on most teams. Unless our bench can match their production, it would always be a tough match up. Tho we are right there with them. It might go 7 games if we meet in the playoffs.

Also as much as I would like us to be 1st seed, it’s way too overrated. 1st seed of either conference has not won a chip since 2016 or 1st seed only won 6 chips in the last 23 years.

Sec or third seed have been the major winners based on stats. I am feeling positive.

[Ferry Avenue]

Our starters outplayed theirs pretty much the whole game. It’s our bench that lost us the game.

They have Derrick White and Brogdom on the bench who I think could start on most teams. Unless our bench can match their production, it would always be a tough match up. Tho we are right there with them. It might go 7 games if we meet in the playoffs.

Also as much as I would like us to be 1st seed, it’s way too overrated. 1st seed of either conference has not won a chip since 2016 or 1st seed only won 6 chips in the last 23 years.

Sec or third seed have been the major winners based on stats. I am feeling positive.

The Sixers outplay the Celtics’ starting lineup and play worse against their bench simply because of how both teams have arranged the minutes for their starters and reserves. If you shuffle the starters and reserves for both teams, the overall outcome would be the same — the Celtics would have an edge simply because of an advantage in overall talent.

[Embiid P]

I said it before and I'll say it again. The biggest reason why we're not on the level of Boston is the Tobias contract which severely limits the amount of depth we can have. Mind you, even with the contract there are some moves that Morey could have made, but for whatever reason, the buyout market never works in our favor some of which is due to factors that are out of our control (weather, night life, etc. hence why cities like Miami and LA will always have an advantage over Philly in that regard). Moving Harris needs to be Morey's top priority in the offseason.

[ExplosionsInDaSky]

Biid, Harden and Maxey were fine-good in the clutch.

we lost off a tough shot by Tatum...that could have been made tougher with a taller defender on it or having someone blitz a double

not sure why after every loss the blame game has to start...sometimes you just lose lol. I think this roster isn't good enough but the fact that they fought back instead of just laying down is a good thing. They have shown that they can lock in and comeback from big deficits; which is something I didn't think we could do with this roster at the start of the year.

Maybe its due to me missing most of the game but I am not distraught after that loss for once

After missing the Grizzlies game from the other night, I locked in and watched this one start to finish last night. You could clearly see that it was headed towards a photo finish. A big part of me knew that it was going to be Tatum at the end and he delivered. Not distraught over the loss myself, but it does reinforce the fact that we aren't good enough to hang with Boston. I don't care what anyone says, they are just a half step better of a team than we are right now. That doesn't mean we can't figure them out, but we're just not there yet.

[ankle420breaker]

I've been a pessimist, but I don't think there's a huge delta between us and Boston. We were there.

Actually glad we lost. Keep that chip on our shoulder heading into the playoffs. If we get more consistent bench support we'll be a tough out. Doc's ability to make adjustments in a seven game series will also be a major factor in how far we go.

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[phifans]

Our starters outplayed theirs pretty much the whole game. It’s our bench that lost us the game.

They have Derrick White and Brogdom on the bench who I think could start on most teams. Unless our bench can match their production, it would always be a tough match up. Tho we are right there with them. It might go 7 games if we meet in the playoffs.

Also as much as I would like us to be 1st seed, it’s way too overrated. 1st seed of either conference has not won a chip since 2016 or 1st seed only won 6 chips in the last 23 years.

Sec or third seed have been the major winners based on stats. I am feeling positive.

The Sixers outplay the Celtics’ starting lineup and play worse against their bench simply because of how both teams have arranged the minutes for their starters and reserves. If you shuffle the starters and reserves for both teams, the overall outcome would be the same — the Celtics would have an edge simply because of an advantage in overall talent.

Their advantage in overall talent mainly coming from their bench and depth but that won't be the case anymore in postseason when you play your core players over 40 mins.

Depth win you regular season which is what Bos has been doing but star player win you games when it really matters.

We'll see how Biid and Harden reacts in April.

[Embiid P]

Our starters outplayed theirs pretty much the whole game. It’s our bench that lost us the game.

They have Derrick White and Brogdom on the bench who I think could start on most teams. Unless our bench can match their production, it would always be a tough match up. Tho we are right there with them. It might go 7 games if we meet in the playoffs.

Also as much as I would like us to be 1st seed, it’s way too overrated. 1st seed of either conference has not won a chip since 2016 or 1st seed only won 6 chips in the last 23 years.

Sec or third seed have been the major winners based on stats. I am feeling positive.

The Sixers outplay the Celtics’ starting lineup and play worse against their bench simply because of how both teams have arranged the minutes for their starters and reserves. If you shuffle the starters and reserves for both teams, the overall outcome would be the same — the Celtics would have an edge simply because of an advantage in overall talent.

Their advantage in overall talent mainly coming from their bench and depth but that won't be the case anymore in postseason when you play your core players over 40 mins.

Depth win you regular season which is what Bos has been doing but star player win you games when it really matters.

We'll see how Biid and Harden reacts in April.

Part of the reason for having a good bench is to ensure that your starters aren't playing a ton of minutes in the regular season so that they are as healthy and rested as can be come the playoffs, especially when your best players are in or past their primes like ours are.

Last season, our starters were run into the ground during the regular season, primarily due to a lack of depth and it really showed especially with Harden in the Heat series.

[76ciology]

Biid, Harden and Maxey were fine-good in the clutch.

we lost off a tough shot by Tatum...that could have been made tougher with a taller defender on it or having someone blitz a double

not sure why after every loss the blame game has to start...sometimes you just lose lol. I think this roster isn't good enough but the fact that they fought back instead of just laying down is a good thing. They have shown that they can lock in and comeback from big deficits; which is something I didn't think we could do with this roster at the start of the year.

Maybe its due to me missing most of the game but I am not distraught after that loss for once

Yeah. Maxey was more than OK to good in clutch. I find everyone on our team played well in crunch time.

I like that sequence where we had..
Embiid iso jumper made
Harden iso on grant williams layup made
Embiid block that leads to maxey fastbreak

Our defense was great except for that possession when Tucker helped on Tatum that lead to open Al, and that miss by Grant Williams when nobody boxed out Tatum which lead for his tip in.

I was looking at the highlights. Maxey missed that 3 at the right corner-ish which almost went down. He also had two high floater drives with his left (i think he’s working on this shot) that almost went in.

[76ciology]

The Sixers outplay the Celtics’ starting lineup and play worse against their bench simply because of how both teams have arranged the minutes for their starters and reserves. If you shuffle the starters and reserves for both teams, the overall outcome would be the same — the Celtics would have an edge simply because of an advantage in overall talent.

Their advantage in overall talent mainly coming from their bench and depth but that won't be the case anymore in postseason when you play your core players over 40 mins.

Depth win you regular season which is what Bos has been doing but star player win you games when it really matters.

We'll see how Biid and Harden reacts in April.

Part of the reason for having a good bench is to ensure that your starters aren't playing a ton of minutes in the regular season so that they are as healthy and rested as can be come the playoffs, especially when your best players are in or past their primes like ours are.

Last season, our starters were run into the ground during the regular season, primarily due to a lack of depth and it really showed especially with Harden in the Heat series.

I think the problem with the last two seasons were our guys aren’t used to playing in crunch time.

I think we focused too much on reg season when we had the first seed in 2020-2021. We got surprised when Hawks played big with the Galo-Collins-Capela line-up. We also were like scared cats in G1 not knowing how to weather the storm. Ben also handicapped up on crunch time. OUR GUYS ON THE COURT made a lot of dumb plays like Embiid TO, Embiid miss easy lay-ups, Thybulle fouling a shooter, Ben missing FTs and Ben passing up open looks.

Then in 2021-2022. I think our team was just not used to playing together and didnt get any better during the reg season playing crappy teams like the Knicks and the Wolves where we were sleep walking on our PnR. Then when the playoffs came.. you get teams like Raps and Heat who got guys like Barnes and Tucker that can switch on both Biid and Harden. Then Heat throws all these schemes like heavy denying Biid the ball and having a helper once he caught it and all types of Zone defense.

In both times we also can’t matched with microwave scoring of Lou Williams in 2020-2021 and Tyler Herro in 2021-2022.

I look at this team and I think we’ve corrected all our mistakes and are almost there. For now, we just need Maxey to get out of this slump.

Hell, even the Grizz game when Biid played one of his imitations of Mj’s flu games which he is so used to playing since 2018? We were able to find ways on how to be a good team. And that shows a lot of maturity and how far we are this season.

[M2J]

Biid, Harden and Maxey were fine-good in the clutch.

we lost off a tough shot by Tatum...that could have been made tougher with a taller defender on it or having someone blitz a double

not sure why after every loss the blame game has to start...sometimes you just lose lol. I think this roster isn't good enough but the fact that they fought back instead of just laying down is a good thing. They have shown that they can lock in and comeback from big deficits; which is something I didn't think we could do with this roster at the start of the year.

Maybe its due to me missing most of the game but I am not distraught after that loss for once

Well with then getting Tatum on the run like that from the back court, it kinda makes it tougher to double, unless you commit to it prior to the action. Also you have to keep in mind that oftentimes coaches game plan to have the best defenders in space defend the back court in those sets. So Tatum being back that far and taking a running start could have led to Tobias being behind him and out of the play in total. I mean at least Melton defended it well.

I really don't think Boston is thaaaaaat much more talented than Philly. I think Philly has the best player, and quite possibly the best 2 players that can make the game easiest for their teammates due to James supreme playmaking to go with his scoring allowing him to still draw coverage. If PJ plays like he has been lately, then he's important. Melton can play better on both ends... More aggressive offensively....I think he could play more with the bench lineups in postseason... Instead of Niang. Maxey just needs to establish himself. Harden and others also need shoot better from 3.

I think the biggest difference with the Celtics is how long they've been playing postseason basketball together with their core... To the point of when they add in a Brogdon they know exactly where he goes. Sixers add in a McDaniels and there is curiosity as to if he starts. They just haven't established even rotations yet. Which is why I can't take these losses to them that seriously. The postseason allows you to figure those things out, and make adjustments.

At the end of the day, playoff basketball is what it is. The best player with the most help should win. In a series vs Boston, Embiid needs to dominate, the team needs to defend, and the team overall needs to shoot well off of him. These are all possible