The Sixers test their Christmas good luck and show what they can do against the Celtics originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
BOSTON – About 45 minutes before their Christmas game at TD Garden, luck again did not seem to smile on the Sixers.
Taking his usual pregame jump shots, a masked Joel Embiid He scored a triple and deflected to the sideline. She fell onto a rope that cordoned off the court and the security guard right behind her, falling to the ground. The superstar center grabbed his right ankle.
This time, Embiid and the Sixers didn’t experience the worst-case scenario.
After scoring 27 points in his team’s game 118-114 victory over the CelticsEmbiid said he “just sprained my ankle.”
“It only hurts a little,” he said, “but it’s Christmas. I have to play at Christmas.”
The Sixers (11-17) weren’t left bemoaning unfortunate rebounds and missing open jumpers and disconcerting calls Wednesday night. Caleb Martin set a new career high with seven 3-pointers… including a fourth-quarter line drive that probably wasn’t his intention.
As Embiid knows, Martin enjoyed facing the Celtics during his days with the Heat.
“He’s playing against Boston,” Embiid said. “He hates them as much as I do. I guess I’ll accept it.
“No, but it was great. I like it when he’s not thinking. Tonight, I just didn’t think about it every time I had the ball, shot or drove. Obviously, he made his shots. “We need him to continue doing that and building that trust.”
Before Embiid’s surreal pregame injury scare, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse was asked about Murphy’s Law. Bad luck as a daily companion at the beginning of this season.
“I probably haven’t experienced anything like this before,” he said. “It wasn’t very fun, that’s for sure. They throw you a lot of curveballs and you swing and miss a lot, but you have to hang in there. We’ve tried to do that and we just worked really hard, trained really hard, prepared really well and fought through it. That’s all.”
Maybe now it’s a safe thing to speak in the past tense.
While the Sixers were shorthanded in Boston… Jared McCain, KJ MartinAndre Drummond and Eric Gordon were out with injuries – they outscored the Celtics 22-8 for most of the game. (Boston’s Jrue Holiday was out with a right shoulder injury and Kristaps Porzingis exited early with a sore left ankle.)
In a stark reversal of the typical trend, the Sixers crushed the Celtics with Embiid out. Ultra-small lineups with guards Tyrese Maxey, Kyle Lowry and Reggie Jackson thrived and the Sixers overcame being -18 when Embiid was on the court. Backup center Guerschon Yabusele scored 12 points and was excellent against the team that drafted him in 2016.
“I think that’s kind of what we’re left with now; Drum and KJ are out. … They did a great job,” Nurse said. “We went to the zone right away both times (Lowry and Jackson) checked in and we got a couple of stops, but that was enough to buy us time.
“And I thought all those guys fought. “Kyle had a great game, just fighting, being physical and rebounding, and just organizing the team on the offensive end.”
Maxey was brilliant as the Sixers’ lead point guard on a night of 33 points, 12 assists and three steals.
He said in the visiting locker room that “he had to redeem himself” after “it sucked” last Christmas in Miami. A few feet to his right, Embiid enthusiastically accepted.
“You were like the worst player in the NBA in that game,” Embiid said as part of the banter between the stars.
Both Embiid and Maxey were flawless at the foul line on Wednesday and the Sixers had their first perfect free throw game of the season, going 19 of 19.
Until the end of the afternoon they were also exceptional at avoiding turnovers. The Sixers committed a season-low six steals, four of which came in the final 3 minutes and 20 seconds.
“I think tonight showed two things that we had consistently last year: low turnovers and great free throws, which we haven’t had a lot of this year,” Nurse said. “Those are two really important things. Again, I think our guys are organized now.
“They did a really good job of helping each other figure out exactly what we were trying to do on offense and where the space was. We just went a little crazy in a couple of weird scenarios, but I think we can work around that too. Just a much better organization.”
Of course, the Sixers didn’t have a dream night on all fronts.
Jayson Tatum (32 points) and Jaylen Brown (23 points) led the Celtics to the lead late in the third quarter, erasing a 16-point deficit. Paul George did not make field goals in the second half and continued his poor shooting streak. He is 29.1 percent from the field and 16 percent from three-point range in his last four games.
None of it hurt and the strange, almost standard incident had no catastrophic consequences.
“I think we have a high ceiling,” Embiid said. “It’s about us coming together. I don’t think we played our best basketball, but Tyrese was great. I could have been better, PG could have been better and we will be better. … Caleb gave us a good boost.
“The bench was great, but I don’t think it was our best basketball. But we have a lot of chances, so it’s about hoping for a little luck and staying healthy.”