Minus Jaylen and Rob, the Celtics lose a wild game in Philly
Boston lost a tough game against the 76ers Tuesday night, falling 103-101. Despite Jaylen Brown and Rob Williams III not being available, Boston battled all night long.
To be completely honest, this should only make Celtics fans more confident about a potential matchup against Philadelphia in the playoffs. With Embiid scoring 52 points on 20/25 shooting and Tatum going 7/20 from the field without Rob and JB, you can't help but feel pretty good about a possible postseason series. PJ Tucker also hit 3 of 3 long balls in the clutch, a guy who averages 3.5 points per game on the season. Derrick White was unbelievable for the Celtics tonight, recording 26 points and 7 rebounds on 9/18 shooting. With the absence of Jaylen, we needed some guys to step up, and DWhite answered the call. Malcolm Brogdon also had a good outing, putting in 18 points in 28 minutes.
I've got to give Embiid some flowers though, he was untouchable tonight. He knocked down what felt like every free throw line jumper and attacked the rim at will, a performance that only helped boost his MVP odds. In the end, even with everything seeming to go Philly's way all night, Boston still had a chance to force OT. Unfortunately, JT was unable to hit a fadeaway on the baseline.
With the loss, Boston is now 54-25 on the season and will be guaranteed the 2 seed if they win just 1 of their final 3 games in the regular season. With the Celtics being 2 games ahead of the 76ers and having the tiebreaker, they only need to go 1-2. Boston will be back in action tomorrow night against Toronto in what will be the first game of their final homestand in the regular season.