Redemption Over Sixers Was Most Impressive Celtics Win (So Far)

The Boston Celtics took the floor with unfavorable circumstances working against them on Wednesday night, all of which proved to be meaningless.

Back in Philadelphia, the Celtics were hosted yet again by the 76ers for the second time in the last calendar week. In Round 1, the Sixers bested the C’s, handing Boston its second consecutive loss at the time, and with revenge in play for Round 2, the Celtics weren’t at full strength. Kristaps Porzingis (knee) and Jaylen Brown (illness) were both sidelined, leaving an obvious void in both Boston’s offense and defense.

That didn’t matter.

Even without two All-Star starters available, the Celtics outperformed the Sixers and stripped Philadelphia of its own No. 1 seed position in front of its own home crowd with a 117-107 win. Undoubtedly, it was the most impressive win to date by the Celtics, albeit, just 10 games into the still-young 2023-24 season.

Boston completely shoved the fair excuses aside and exhibited its next-man-up mentality to remain victorious for a fourth consecutive time.

“We got a lot of guys that can do a lot of different things,” Derrick White, who scored 14 points in the fourth quarter, said, as seen on ESPN’s postgame coverage. “I think (Dalano Banton) came in, had big minutes for us. Payton (Pritchard) was huge and just top to bottom we got a lot of guys that can do a lot of different things. When people are out, people step up so that’s big time.”

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With Brown and Porzingis out, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla upon Sam Hauser and Al Horford to step in. Both reserve unit members did not fail, combining for 22 points and six blocks as starters, proving Boston’s depth capable of sustaining an abrupt lineup hit on any given night.

That’s encouraging for a number of reasons, adding more weight to the win than any other recorded through Boston’s first 10 games.

The pregame implications of Philadelphia taking the first matchup and sitting atop the Eastern Conference gave Boston all the leeway for a pass. Momentum was obviously leaning in favor of the 76ers and instead of helping solidify its early case as a legitimate contender, they flopped.

For no good reason, the Sixers failed to win the type of games true championship-caliber teams win. Boston entered the floor vulnerable, but flipped the script and made Philadelphia the disadvantaged team.

“We were able to manage the game better, especially in the third quarter with our defense and our offensive execution,” Mazzulla told reporters, as seen on NBC Sports Boston’s postgame coverage. “

Boston’s defense held the reigning MVP Joel Embiid to a season-low 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field, notching a -25 plus-minus in 33:35 minutes — the fourth-lowest of Embiid’s career. In the second half, the Sixers were only able to score 49 points, including just 17 in the third quarter in which Philadelphia went 1-of-6 from 3-point range.

Sixers head coach Nick Nurse played six different players off the bench, resulting in just 10 points — all from Paul Reed — scored to support the starters.

Clearly, that was the recipe for humbling the Sixers in four quarters.