A Christmas Miracle — 76ers edge out Celtics
Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey (0) shoot a layup against the Boston Celtics during the second half at TD Garden. Eric Canha-Imagn Images
The Philadelphia 76ers have arrived.
After a shaky start to the season that they are still recovering from, a 118-114 win over the two-seeded Boston Celtics tells the NBA world what real Sixers fans have been trying to tell them:
The Sixers are the real deal.
A Kelly Oubre Jr. swipe-and-score off the tip set the tone early and let Boston know what they were in for. Oubre went on to put up 8 boards plus a few points and assists, but it wasn’t him who was the difference maker in this one.
The X-factors were Caleb Martin and Tyrese Maxey.
Caleb Martin nailed 8 of his 11 shots and 7 of his 9 three-pointers, good enough for one of the highest shooting clips of his career. Martin finished with an impressive 23 points. His three-point barrage on the Celtics was unstoppable, however, many of his shots were open due to blown coverage defensively for Boston.
Boston’s coordination was off on the defensive side of the ball, giving up multiple open lanes and shots that Philadelphia took advantage of. Outside of the starting lineup, Boston couldn’t get anybody to defend nor score efficiently.
Tyrese Maxey noticed this disadvantage for Boston and made the most of it.
Maxey scored a game-high 33 points and put up his 2nd career 30-and-10 game en route to a Sixers victory and made a quote that defines what was a major factor in Philadelphia’s win:
Guarding their yard was also a significant help in taking down Boston.
Philly held the Celtics to an average of just 28.5 points per quarter, while the 76ers offense scored the most points in a half all season (66).
Boston had just 82 points going into the fourth and while Tatum and his squad turned things up a notch in the final period, it wasn’t enough to stop the 76ers offense.
This Philadelphia 76ers squad just made a statement and sent a message to all the doubters out there.
The Sixers are now 11-17 and have won 8 of their last 11 games. They sit at the 11 seed in the Eastern Conference, but their record doesn’t say how good they are playing right now.
Philly finishes the calendar year with a trip to Utah to take on the Jazz on the 28th, then stay out west to do battle with Portland on the 30th.
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Evan Hartenstein
Evan has been a member of the Philly Sports Reports team since March 2023. He is covering the 76ers and wants to pursue a long-lasting career in Sports Journalism.
