There’s no avoiding the fact that the Boston Celtics took the Philadelphia 76ers lightly in their Game 1 loss on Monday night.
Not only was Sixers star and league MVP Joel Embiid sidelined with a knee injury, but the C’s built a small lead heading into final minute of play. That was when things began to unravel. Boston collapsed in the final 90 seconds and allowed the 76ers to steal Game 1, with Al Horford admitting postgame that the Celtics had underestimated their opponent given the aforementioned circumstances.
In Game 2, the Celtics are expecting to prevent that from happening.
“I think we have such a good team sometimes that we get big leads, we get comfortable and we let teams back in the game,” Malcolm Brogdon told reporters Wednesday, per Jay King of The Athletic. “And that’s something in the playoffs we have to be better at, we have to tighten up. And I think we will.”
Brogdon also mentioned that the key to a Celtics bounce back is by sending a message through their defense. Those who watched Game 1 will agree.
Boston allowed Philadelphia to do pretty much whatever they wanted in the opening game of the series. The 76ers shot 44.7% from three-point range, and though they trailed the Celtics in field-goal percentage and points in the paint, they turned the ball over just six times. It’s hard enough to beat the Charlotte Hornets by forcing just six turnovers, but beating the 76ers with a vintage James Harden performance just isn’t going to happen.
Oh yeah, if bouncing back wasn’t going to be hard enough, the Sixers are expected to get Embiid back for Game 2.
That would certainly kill any comfortability that the Celtics have.
