Jayson Tatum’s triple-double leads Celtics to dominant win over Sixers: 7 takeaways
Jayson Tatum and the Celtics returned to the floor after the All-Star break on Thursday and smacked the 76ers in a dominant victory.
Celtics
Celtics' Jayson Tatum during Thursday's game in Philadelphia. AP Photo/Matt Slocum
7 minutes to read
Jayson Tatum and the Celtics returned to the floor after the All-Star break on Thursday and smacked the 76ers in a dominant victory.
Here are the takeaways.
Jayson Tatum dominated without scoring much
Jayson Tatum went into the break playing some of the best basketball of his career, and while Thursday’s game wasn’t a dominant 40-point performance, his triple-double was helpful as a narrative device – he was easily the best player on the floor, but he wasn’t the game’s top scorer.
Tatum was in complete control from the start. He assisted the Celtics’ second basket of the game – a nifty pick-and-roll layup by Porzingis that set the tone for the Celtics’ offense – and he scored his first basket a few minutes later. The Sixers repeatedly tried doubling him, which frankly raises questions about Nick Nurse’s decision-making because the Celtics aren’t exactly subtle about how much they want teams to double-team Tatum.
Advertisement:When Tatum gets going from deep and puts together one of his monstrous superstar stretches, he’s impossible to stop, but he looks even more like a potential MVP candidate on nights like Thursday when his mere presence warps an opposing defense to a breaking point. The Sixers have a lot of problems – and we’re going to get to several of them – but they certainly aren’t alone in their inability to deal with Tatum’s technical brilliance on a night-to-night basis.
Tatum finished with 15 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists and was a +19 in the box score that frankly felt a little low.
Advertisement:Luke Kornet is a fantastic pick-and-roll target
One of Tatum’s favorite targets in the pick-and-roll was Luke Kornet, who threw down a couple of genuinely big dunks.
Kornet does a lot of great things for the Celtics – defensively, he might be the best player on the team at staying vertical to contest, he’s a better rebounder on both ends than one might expect given his relative lack of burly muscle or explosiveness, and his defensive positioning is great.
But maybe the best part of Kornet’s game is his timing and positioning in the pick-and-roll. Kornet has a pinpoint sense of when to roll out of the pick-and-roll and where to dive, which has a dual effect. First, of course, it gives the Celtics a major scoring threat from their third big man. Second, it creates gravity in the paint as opposing defenders collapse to try to keep Kornet from scoring.
Against a better defensive team than the Sixers, that gravity can create open looks from three – Kornet is a good passer as a rolling big man (and the Celtics generally move on a string to give him passing targets). Against a bad defensive team like this iteration of the Sixers, Kornet got to enjoy the gravity himself.
Advertisement:The Celtics demolished Joel Embiid (and got a lot of 3s)
Not exactly an encouraging first game out of the break for the Sixers, most notably because of their star big man.
The Sixers have some really difficult decisions to make going forward about their season, and we will get to those, but they may have some pressing long-term considerations to work through as well – most notably regarding Embiid, who looked like a shell of himself on both ends. The Celtics used to have answers for Embiid only because they employed Al Horford, and Horford was so uniquely gifted at defending Embiid that the Sixers disastrously decided to throw money at him to get him out of the way.
On Thursday, Embiid struggled to score against any of the Celtics’ bigs. He grifted his way into free throws (9-for-9 at the line) when the Celtics defended him with guards, but he was far from an overwhelming offensive presence (3-for-9 from the field, 15 points, three rebounds).
The defensive end, however, was far worse. Embiid recently acknowledged that he might need another offseason surgery, and he didn’t look like he was moving well defensively. Absolutely whenever possible, the Celtics dragged him to the point of attack, put him in a pick-and-roll and feasted off the results. Those pick-and-rolls created efficient offense consistently – layups, dunks and threes, as well as plenty of the Celtics’ patented swing-the-ball-around-the-key triples.
Advertisement:Embiid is not getting younger, surgeries don’t become easier to recover from as you age, and behemoths of Embiid’s height and weight don’t generally become more nimble in their 30s.
The Sixers have had an entire season full of long-term concerns, but Thursday’s game – a massive loss against a hated rival after a week of rest and recuperation for their stars – threw them into stark relief.
Pro-am Payton Pritchard made an appearance
Pritchard entered the All-Star break shooting 3-for-18 from 3-point range, so Thursday’s game felt like a return to normalcy.
Pritchard started hot and never cooled off, and the Sixers did absolutely nothing to force the issue. He made his first triple midway through the first, then with 2:27 left in the quarter, the Sixers fell asleep and let him get off a wide open triple, which he canned.
That was more than enough to get him going, but the Sixers weren’t done falling asleep on Pritchard – early in the second quarter, Andre Drummond ran away from Pritchard when he caught a pass, seemingly indicating to Quentin Grimes that the new Sixers guard should take him instead. This was, of course, a brutally bad defensive decision, and Pritchard punished the Sixers accordingly.
The rest of the game was target practice for Pritchard, who made two more 3-pointers in the next two minutes, and then four more in the final six minutes of the fourth quarter as the Celtics landed their final punches against a Sixers team that never really had a chance after Pritchard started cooking.
Pritchard finished with 28 points and shot 8-for-15 from 3-point range. On nights when Tatum’s passes warp the game, Pritchard is one of the best complementary pieces
Advertisement:Al Horford keeps torturing the Sixers
Sixers fans really hate Al Horford, and it must be particularly galling to know that for all the hatred they toss his way, Horford has more or less won the war.
After all, Horford won the title. He looks healthier than Embiid – who is eight years his junior – at this point. After all these years, Embiid still hasn’t figured out how to beat Horford consistently, and at this point, one has to wonder whether he ever will.
So it’s little wonder that when Horford’s name is announced, the fans still boo, and it’s little wonder that the national broadcast can’t keep all the middle fingers off the telecast in a passionate sports city like Philadelphia.
On Friday, Horford did it again. He limited Embiid, and he shot 3-for-5 from three, offering Tatum yet another outlet out of the pick-and-roll, and yet another spacing option for the Celtics’ deadly kick-pass-pass offense. The Celtics probably would have won by double-digits even if Horford didn’t play, but he certainly made it look easy.
Someday Philadelphia will be free of the Horford curse. Thursday was not that day.
The Sixers’ season might be cooked
Much was made on the TNT broadcast about the importance of the next few weeks for the Sixers, who are now two full games behind the 10th-place Bulls for the final spot in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament (and half a game behind the surging Nets, who are in 11th).
Advertisement:Conventional wisdom might suggest that the Sixers would be a nightmarish first-round draw for the Cavaliers or Celtics if they did make the play-in tournament, given that they employ Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey (who, for all of the Sixers’ struggles, really is a shining bright spot).
But Thursday’s loss was the Sixers’ sixth in a row, and it gave them sole possession of the sixth spot in the Tankathon standings, which – quite frankly – might make a lot more sense to consider than the playoff standings. After all, the Sixers owe a top-six protected pick to the Thunder, and while it might be difficult to lose enough games to ensure they get a shot at that pick, giving themselves a chance to keep that asset – especially in a relatively loaded draft class – might be a more worthwhile goal than trying to turn themselves into cannon fodder for the Cavaliers, especially if it speeds up the timeline for Embiid to get an operation and recover before next year.
Starting their post All-Star stretch with a game against the Celtics was a tough draw for a Sixers team that needs as many wins as possible, and their next two contests are against the Nets and Bulls – the two teams directly above them in the standings. The TNT broadcast made a big deal about the Sixers’ next 10 games. In reality, losses in their next two might be all the advice their decision-makers need.
Advertisement:By the way: That pick the Sixers owe the Thunder was dealt to get rid of the contract of … Al Horford.
Again: The Sixers will be free of Horford someday, but Thursday was not the day.
Heading back home
The Celtics will now enjoy two days off before they take on the Knicks at home on Sunday, tipping off at 1 p.m.. They will then hit the road for two games, followed by a seven-game homestand that takes them deep into March.
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