Tonight’s TNT action takes place inside the TD Garden for an Eastern battle and possible revenge match between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Boston Celtics. This is the second time these teams have met; the first being the two teams’ season openers back in late October, which saw the Sixers plow the new-look Celtics by a score of 107-93.
What won’t be of occurrence, unfortunately, will be the on-court return of Al Horford, the ex-Celtic barred from re-joining his former team due to complications in signing a new, stay-put deal. Horford hasn’t been overtly exceptional for his new team, averaging a pedestrian 13.8 points per game off 48 percent shooting and 6.8 rebounds per contest.
Philly enters this game in fourth place in the Eastern Conference at 18-7, while the Celtics may be a measly win behind but ahead on the Eastern standings at 17-6, which is good for third in the East. Both teams are just four games behind the intimidating Milwaukee Bucks who just so happened to run all over the Zion-less Pelicans on primetime television without Giannis Antetokounmpo even suiting up. However, Boston has the edge with two games in hand. The Sixers have won eight of their past ten games, while Boston has gone 6-4 over that same stretch.
This is also a battle of two teams who have a perfect home record, so Boston will have an extra challenge and incentive to beat their good old buddies in their own house.
The Celtics offense is one of the league’s most efficient (15th overall), averaging a total of 110.6 points per game and are led by their new big three, composed of Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown.
Boston has been led in scoring by their gracious offseason pickup (and to their prerogative, puzzle-like perfect fit) Kemba Walker who is averaging around 22 points per game. Walker also supplies a team-leading 5.5 assists per game and is backed up by Tatum’s 21 points per game and a team-leading 7.2 rebounds per contest as well.
As for Philly, their multifaceted big three of nimbly-gifted big man Joel Embiid, 6’10 natural mismatch and point guard Ben Simmons and efficient forward Tobias Harris have led the charge for Philadelphia. Embiid leads the team in both points with 22 and rebounds with 12.4 per game, and for good reason; on Tuesday, he dominated his sole competition in big man Nikola Jokic for all four quarters, further silencing prognosticators about who was the best big man in the NBA.
Simmons running the point averages a team-leading 8.4 assists and adds 14 points and 7 rebounds per contest. Harris averages the second-most points on the team with 19.2 and adds 7 rebounds per game.
These two teams boast a top-5 defensive rating en lieu to both of their dangerously effective offensive attacks, and on top of that, we all know the contentious relationship between these two historic franchises has been anything but sunshine and rainbows. Expect a physical, smashmouth war for four quarters with both squads appearing nearly at 100 percent. The only exceptions are that of Boston’s Marcus Smart as the guard is recovering from an eye infection.
Sixers/Celtics tip-off at 8:00 p.m. ET on TNT.
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