Photo by Omar Rawlings/Getty Images
The Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics fought back and forth in an exciting Christmas Day game, but in the end, the Celtics prevailed in overtime.
The Philadelphia 76ers were no match for the Boston Celtics on Christmas Day, falling 121-114 in overtime. It’s the second road loss the Sixers have suffered in Beantown this season as their road woes continue.
Kyrie Irving scored 40 points to offset 34 points from big man Joel Embiid and 24 points from Jimmy Butler. Irving drained his final shot, a pull-up 3-pointer in transition, for the proverbial dagger, putting Boston up 118-114 with 1:29 left in overtime,
Things were all tied up at 89 entering the third quarter and by the end of the fourth, the Celtics had all the momentum thanks to the performance of Irving. Philadelphia trailed by eight at halftime, but managed to put together a few scoring runs to keep things close.
The Sixers ran out of juice in the end and it showed in the results. They finished the game with 19 turnovers and lost despite shooting 15-of-40 (37.5 percent) from 3-point range as a team.
Philadelphia is 16-3 at home, but 6-10 on the road in 2018-19. There’s time to fix the road woes and there’s plenty for to learn from this contest against a conference rival. Here’s a look at three takeaways from the Philadelphia 76ers’ loss on Christmas Day.
Philadelphia 76ers</a> were no match for the<a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2018/12/26/philadelphia-76ers-3-takeaways-from-christmas-loss-celtics/"https://hoopshabit.com/eastern-conference/boston-celtics/"> Boston Celtics</a> on Christmas Day, falling 121-114 in overtime. It’s the second road loss the Sixers have suffered in Beantown this season as their road woes continue.</p>
<p><a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2018/12/26/philadelphia-76ers-3-takeaways-from-christmas-loss-celtics/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/i/irvinky01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-%22 target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" ref="nofollow">Kyrie Irving</a> scored 40 points to offset 34 points from big man <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2018/12/26/philadelphia-76ers-3-takeaways-from-christmas-loss-celtics/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/e/embiijo01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-%22 target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" ref="nofollow">Joel Embiid</a> and 24 points from <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2018/12/26/philadelphia-76ers-3-takeaways-from-christmas-loss-celtics/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/butleji01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-%22 target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" ref="nofollow">Jimmy Butler</a>. Irving drained his final shot, a pull-up 3-pointer in transition, for the proverbial dagger, putting Boston up 118-114 with 1:29 left in overtime,</p>
<p>Things were all tied up at 89 entering the third quarter and by the end of the fourth, the Celtics had all the momentum thanks to the performance of Irving. Philadelphia trailed by eight at halftime, but managed to put together a few scoring runs to keep things close.</p>
<p>The Sixers ran out of juice in the end and it showed in the results. They finished the game with 19 turnovers and lost despite shooting 15-of-40 (37.5 percent) from 3-point range as a team.</p>
<p>Philadelphia is 16-3 at home, but 6-10 on the road in 2018-19. There’s time to fix the road woes and there’s plenty for to learn from this contest against a conference rival. Here’s a look at three takeaways from the Philadelphia 76ers’ loss on Christmas Day.</p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:590px;">Photo by Omar Rawlings/Getty Images</p>
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<h3>3. Philadelphia and Boston are both legit contenders in the East</h3>
<p>The Christmas Day meeting between the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers was a potential preview of the 2019 Eastern Conference Finals. Granted, things will have to go a certain way, but the potential for a future meeting in this year’s postseason is certainly on the table.</p>
<p>Joel Embiid put up 34 points and 16 rebounds in the game. Jimmy Butler was right behind him 24 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals.</p>
<p><a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2018/12/26/philadelphia-76ers-3-takeaways-from-christmas-loss-celtics/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/s/simmobe01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-%22 target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" ref="nofollow">Ben Simmons</a> finished with 11 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists, but he attempted just nine shots through roughly 38 minutes of play. <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2018/12/26/philadelphia-76ers-3-takeaways-from-christmas-loss-celtics/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/r/redicjj01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-%22 target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" ref="nofollow">J.J. Redick</a> had 17 points but finished the game shooting 5-for-16 from the field.</p>
<p>While Philadelphia won the 3-point battle with 15 made attempts to Boston’s 14 makes, it lost the turnover battle 19-9. Down the stretch, the Sixers will need to be a lot more deliberate with the basketball and limit turnovers. When they needed baskets, they either turned the ball over or took a last-second shot that didn’t stand a chance.</p>
<p>These teams are currently fourth and fifth in the Eastern Conference standings. If the season were to end today, they’d meet in the first round, which would make for a definite seven-game series. It could work out that way in the end, so Philadelphia will need to work on making adjustments in a hurry.</p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:590px;">Photo by Omar Rawlings/Getty Images</p>
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<h3>2. Brett Brown was out-coached in the final moments</h3>
<p>As a fan of head coach Brett Brown, the next point is difficult to make. His coaching decisions down the stretch of the Sixers’ Christmas loss were hard to watch. He was out-coached by Brad Stevens in the fourth quarter and overtime, when it looked like things were headed Philadelphia’s way.</p>
<p>While Kyrie Irving torched them for 40 points on 17-of-33 shooting from the field and five made 3-pointers, the Sixers struggled to score a bucket in the fourth quarter and overtime.</p>
<p>As a team, they shot 6-for-21 (28.6 percent) from the field in the fourth quarter and 1-for-8 (12.5 percent) from the field in overtime. It seemed there weren’t many adjustments to be made as the team faded on offense and Brown just watched from the sideline.</p>
<p>Embiid looked gas and Butler wasn’t used much on offense despite playing as their primary defender on Kyrie Irving down the stretch. There are still more adjustments for them to make as the new year approaches. Luckily for them, Butler should be open to ideas after not getting many touches down the stretch.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2018/12/26/philadelphia-76ers-3-takeaways-from-christmas-loss-celtics/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 1 </a>
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<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:590px;">Photo by Omar Rawlings/Getty Images</p>
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<h3>1. Sixers need to go to Jimmy Butler on offense more down the stretch</h3>
<p>Jimmy Butler has already made two game-winning baskets and made a number of key plays in the final moments of games since arriving in Philadelphia. It seems like the team forgot about that on Tuesday night when things got tight.</p>
<p>Butler put together a masterful performance on the defensive end, but it didn’t translate into touches on offense down the stretch. He took just five shots in the final 17 minutes of the game for the Sixers, but it wasn’t really through any fault of his own.</p>
<p>At times, Ben Simmons put them in bad positions in the fourth quarter with bad shot selection and it showed in the final result. On top of that, the team overused Joel Embiid a bit and it showed in three turnovers from Embiid in the fourth quarter.</p>
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<p>When Butler is playing well on defense, it typically translates into good things on offense. That’s something the Sixers will have to remember going forward. They mailed it on offense on too many possessions down the stretch and it showed in yet another loss to the Celtics on the road.</p><!—pageview_candidate—>">