Short-handed 76ers trounced by short-handed Celtics, 123-105

The Sixers, without Tyrese Maxey, Paul George, and Joel Embiid, lost to a Celtics team that was missing Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, and Sam Hauser.

Yet another pitiful effort from this 76ers team and you can start to see it on Nick Nurse’s face. The culminating lack of effort is palpable, and there is still a month left of the season.

Here are a couple of takeaways from tonight’s loss, as well as a future overview.

No sense of cohesion

To preface this section, there should be no expectation on this group of guys to beat this Celtics team, nor is there an imperative to do so. That being said, there is a level of expectation for performance during a nationally televised game. 

Tonight there were only three guys who it felt like they still had their foot on the gas; Kelly Oubre, Justin Edwards, and Lonnie Walker. This trio made 10 of the team’s 15 threes, scored 58 of the team’s 105 points, and actually made a second and third effort a lot of the time. Quentin Grimes, who has played noticeably well since joining the team, fell back down to earth tonight, only making 2 field goals on 11 attempts. While some slack should be cut Guerschon Yabusele and Andre Drummond, these guys have been playing well above their pay grade, there still is some imperative for both of these guys to perform. In a game where the Celtics were missing Horford, Drummond had real problems rebounding and defending against Neemias Queta and Luke Kornet. Part of that blame falls on Yabusele who was helping on Kornet and Jayson Tatum. 

In general, it feels like this team is without a captain, and that’s 100% what they are. It’s tough to say Nurse has lost the locker room because I’m never in there, but it seems the only guys who care at this point have contracts on the line. Moreover, when your 3 max guys are on the bench, there is no one to look to, making it nearly impossible to get any rhythm.

Look at Boston

Simply put, this Boston team is impressive. Last night, Tatum was out and they handily beat the Trail Blazers in a game where Payton Pritchard and Derrick White combined for 84.

Tonight, Tatum came back, and Brown sat out. Tatum had what seemed to be a typical day for him at this point. Scoring 35 points, grabbing 7 boards, poking away three steals, and going 14-23 from the field. White fell back down to earth, scoring 12 points on horrid shooting. Pritchard had a solid game, posting 19 points on efficient shooting. The impressive part lies beyond these three. Joe Mazulla used this game to try and test out deep-bench players, and Boston really has such nice back-of-the-bench guys. Baylor Scheierman got some nice extended runs, playing 30 minutes and scoring 15 points while drawing 3 threes. The guys like Torrey Craig and Jordan Walsh also got nice playing time.

All this is to say that Boston is one of the best-constructed teams in the league, probably only second to the Thunder. They are also so well-coached. The difference is tangible. Seeing what Mazzulla could do with the back-of-the-bench guys compared to Nurse is like night and day. Every guy on that Boston team makes a second effort, every guy knows the objective, every guy knows who to lean on and where to fall in line.

Is it over yet?

This season feels like a nightmare that just won’t end. There is not a derivative value from these games in terms of entertainment. This team lacks any coaching. They’ve already ruled Embiid out for the season, so the next question is, do they ever do the same for Maxey and George? Morey was shown on the broadcast of tonight’s game, and he of all people knows the importance of retaining the lottery pick. This makes it more puzzling why at the least George hasn’t been pulled yet. This is a problem that extends organizationally to the top and the writing may be on the wall that Nurse and Morey are done real soon. 

As of now, the Sixers solely own the 6th lottery position and are in a dogfight with Brooklyn for it. The goal remains, to get the 5th position. 

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