While Brown thought a few possession in the second half were questionable, he said, “I think it got deflating when their shot makers went bananas. I’m not gonna scold their effort.”The Celtics did shoot 19-43 from three-point distance — with eight of those makes coming from 22-year-old All-Star Jayson Tatum, who scored 33 points. Kemba Walker dropped 22 and Jaylen Brown finished with 20.
“They playing like a team now where, ‘you know what—we don’t have Ben (Simmons),” Barkley said. “Let’s get this thing over with and let’s get out of the bubble. They did not compete tonight.”The 76ers started Wednesday night’s game hot, leading by as much as 14 in the first quarter. But, Boston wasn’t down for long — and once they erased that deficit, they were in control the rest of the way.
The Celtics outscored the Sixers in the second quarter 38-24 — shooting 61.9%. During TNT’s halftime show, Barkley was critical of the 76ers defense.
“I hate the Sixers defensive intensity,” Barkley said. “This is, to me, like a scrimmage … They’re like, ‘Hey, let’s just come out here and play hard for a little bit. Doesn’t matter if we win or lose. We got a built-in excuse because Ben Simmons is not here (due to his knee surgery).’ That’s what it looks like to me.”
Boston led by as much as 28. Around the midway point of the fourth quarter, Brown pulled Joel Embiid, who was the only Sixers player to make an impact offensively, finishing with 34 points and 10 rebounds—taking 21 shots. No other Sixer reached 20 points.
Tobias Harris scored 13 points on four-of-15. Al Horford, who came off the bench as Boston went with a smaller starting lineup, scored four points in just over 23 minutes. Matisse Thybulle, starting in place of Horford, was minus-30 on the stat sheet.
“They were more physical than us offensively and defensively, so we just gotta be tougher than them,” Embiid said.
Meantime, Tatum topped his 32-point Game 1 performance by going eight-of-12 from distance. He alone made more three’s the Sixers, who only drilled five out of 21 attempts. Boston’s bench outscored the Sixers 41-20.
It was a mess.
Embiid believes they need to make defensive adjustments to make life harder for the Celtics when they have the ball.
Brown is trying to stay positive during a situation that clearly is anything but.
“I think it has to start with me,” Brown said. “I think that when you look in the locker room you’re gonna go to the inevitable people you knew I would say in Joel and Tobias and Al, and I think at that point there are other people that are gonna have to come along. There’s no doubt about you feel the pain without Ben, to our point, but I feel what I said to be true—I think there’s enough character and and enough talent in the locker room to respond.
“And I feel that it needs to start from me, and I sure need some help in the three players, especially that I just mentioned, and I believe it’s within them.”