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Opening up a game thread. Impressive box out by McCain against Brown who tried to use his size to push him around.

bench going to still be bad

Mik317 wrote:bench going to still be bad

They've gotten some good looks, just didn't finish it off.

Edwards had a nice drive, I'd like to see ball in his hands some more.

other teams find cheap young shooters for free

we don't lol

Mik317 wrote:other teams find cheap young shooters for free

we don't lol

We do, we just then bury them on bench, never letting them get game reps so when we need em they aren't ready; then we trade em away bc they aren't ready.

Also, hard to hold anything against or take anything away from 2nd and 3rd stringers playing against the title team's 1's. We have our top 7 or 8 rotation guys out while Celtics are playing normal rotations except Horford.

Box score watching but is Boston going full sweat for three quarters or what?

McCain is wider than I thought.

GoSixersBro wrote:Box score watching but is Boston going full sweat for three quarters or what?

Yeah, they were. Crashing offensive boards. Brown seemed like he was trying overly hard to bully.

My thoughts:

- The frontcourt with Yabusele at center has been the biggest issue in our last two losses. Minott, Garza, and Luke Kornet exploited our small frontcourt, dominating inside. Part of the problem is we lack a true big power forward, and Yabusele hasn’t been playing bigger than his size, he’s not being as active or aggressive as needed. Defensive gaps on the perimeter, especially with Council and McCain, are also a factor.

- Our struggles with Yabusele at center stem from the team’s unfamiliarity with playing small ball. They’re used to having a traditional big like Embiid or Drummond. The Celtics outrebounded us by 20.

- Jared McCain had a solid game against the Celtics, even though his 3-point shots didn’t fall. He was scrappy on defense, got to the paint, and scored. Despite being outmatched physically on some possessions, he was the standout performer in this game.

- Justin Edwards looks like a promising two way player. He’s got the size, shooting touch, instincts, and decent quickness to be effective on both ends of the floor.

- If we want to contend for a championship, we need to match the level of shooting and defense the Celtics showed. They shot nearly 50% on close to 50 attempts from beyond the arc.

GoSixersBro wrote:Box score watching but is Boston going full sweat for three quarters or what?

Just what the Celtics are known for. Which is their precision and relentless energy, consistently running their sets, identifying defensive gaps, and exploiting them over and over again. Then once they gain margin, you have elite shooters in Pritchard and Hauser coming in full of confidence to jack up 3s.

Some teams fluctuate between playing at level -1 and then shifting to level +2 when needed, but the Celtics prefer to stay at a steady level 0 to 1 throughout the game, turning it into a war of attrition where most teams eventually wear down and give in.

What's the sense of this futility?

I'm pleased with the production from McCain. No worries about him. He'll have to become a better team defender and they'll have to find ways to avoid him being put on an island and having to defend man on man, however.

Offensive, though, I like what I see. Very quick release.

My take from last night's game:

- The 76ers aren't nearly as deep, as the media that covers the team, says.
- Except for Yabusele, I don't need to see any player that played last night, in any regular season game, except for garbage time.

I like McCain. Very crafty scorer. The Edwards kid is pretty nice too. Cheers.

LloydFree wrote:My take from last night's game:

- The 76ers aren't nearly as deep, as the media that covers the team, says.
- Except for Yabusele, I don't need to see any player that played last night, in any regular season game, except for garbage time.

I don't think media cares about third stringers and g-league players when talking about a team's depth.

I'm under no illusion that McCain is about to become a star, but seems like a good long term role player. He can shoot, play physical, handle the ball and grow into a secondary playmaker.

Hope they give him a real chance to play, though I doubt it with the veterans they have at that position.

its less about the guys who played last night

Lowry and Gordon are super washed IMO.

Team is still very top heavy and when part of that is two oft injured dudes thats not great.

don't get the high optimism honestly.

They still seem fine as bench players idk. Shouldn't start.

LloydFree wrote:My take from last night's game:

- The 76ers aren't nearly as deep, as the media that covers the team, says.
- Except for Yabusele, I don't need to see any player that played last night, in any regular season game, except for garbage time.

What are you even talking about aren't that deep? We sat our starting 7 or 8 best players and we still had enough to put guys on the floor that could be used in a 2nd unit.

In past years, after our 6th guy we would roll out players who shouldn't probably even be on a G-league team.

For example, last year after our starting 5 we had:

Pat Bev/Kork/Springer/Bamba/Reed.

2022: Matisse/Niang/Shake/Tucker/Harrell

So yeah, by comparison this squad is a heck of a lot deeper.