For the fourth and final time this year, two playoff locks will duel for the chance to improve their records in the East as the Philadelphia 76ers take the flight to Boston, Massachusetts for the second time this season in a game against the Celtics on ABC at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Philly is prepared to enter their second-straight week of Saturday night competition, for they were able to surprise a bunch of experts with a 17-point victory against the visiting (and now declining) Los Angeles Lakers. Another formidable foe awaits this Sixers team, though the full-blown attack from the Celtics won’t be dealt as severely as previously perceived. Kemba Walker was said to have experienced discomfort in his left knee, presumably evident in their win over Golden State where he only scored 13 points on an average 5-of-13 shooting night.
Luckily, the three-time All-Star is avoiding serious injury by sitting out the next couple of games in letting his sore knee get healthy again and in his place on the offensive end are Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who both have at times been the rock on both ends of the floor when Walker was off of his game. Also, the suddenly resurgent aggressiveness of Gordon Hayward has helped in multitudes recently, scoring 23 or more points in the last three games against the Pelicans, Heat, and Warriors.
It’s fair to call the untimely passing of Kobe Bryant a source of extra motivation for Hayward, being that he was the last defender to ever be matched up with Bryant in his career-finale 60-point game when he was in Utah, but seeing this additional burst of confidence from Hayward is really enriching to C’s fans who only wanted to see the former All-Star they signed in the 2016 offseason to look the part. Tatum and Brown supply the offense and defense, but Hayward has shown he isn’t afraid to isolate and knock down those tough-but-efficient looks from inside the perimeter and in transition.
But what the Celtics will sorely lack in is more than just offensive productivity tonight, as their big man situation is moderately compromised with the furthered missing of Enes Kanter. One of the only rim protectors that actually does well stopping Joel Embiid won’t be on the floor or in the rotation at all, and though the C’s have won five of their last six and two-straight, it’s hard to see them putting up a fight with a team that already has their number, and the seasonal series lead, against them.
Some other headlines concerning this Sixers-C’s matchup tonight: Al Horford makes his return to Boston for the first time as an on-court participant, and return to the starting lineup due to his scratch from the active lineup against Atlanta because of his knee soreness. As a team, Philly has won six of their last eight, but still don’t impress anyone with their 9-16 record away from the Wells Fargo Center.
Boston is 19-5 at home on the parquet, and after beating Miami at home to start the week, possesses the third seed in the East. Philly is sixth in the conference and with tonight being the second of four consecutive road games for the Sixers, sweeping the Celtics and winning the seasonal bragging rights is a must for a team that’s still looking to flip the perceptions of them not being good enough to hang with the other Eastern elites.
Recent Comments