The prospect of the Sixers actually saw quite a bit of promise in the first quarter of their Game 2 loss against the Celtics on Wednesday. Joel Embiid dominated from the position, Boston had no answer for him, and an injury to Gordon Hayward was at least some compensation for the loss of Ben Simmons. After Philly came out on top with an early 14-point lead, Boston soon began to dismantle the Sixers after tuneing a 41-point turnaround, winning by 27. Six thirty minutes after his hot start, Philly looked like a team on the edge of much more than a disappointing playoff finish.
Questions have plagued the Sixers all season after the front office slammed the roster for the umpteenth time last offseason. It looks like another life now, but it was only two seasons ago when Philly was an emerging team with one of the best starting fives in the league and a much hyped no. 1 pick recovering from an injury to the bench. Taking over everything that has since gone wrong is its own saga, but the subsequent roster machines have largely failed, and the shortcomings of the Sixers have been largely exposed against the Celtis.
Losing Simmons was always hard to endure. But is it not fair to ask more of Tobias Harris and Al Horford? Harris and Horford combined to make more than $ 60 million this season. They combined to score just 17 points in a must-have Game 2, if one point less than Josh Richardson scored by himself. Harris and Horford were not even bad players. But they were doubtful passes from the moment they were brought to Philly. And when you consider the context of what the Sixers are up to in signing them – the possessions lost in Harris’s trade, the departure of JJ Redick and the abundance of locker rooms – it makes their performance on Wednesday exponentially more frustrating.
Horford was passive. He can not really anchor the lineups without Embiid due to the general lack of depth, and the two have never been heard together in court, even without Simmons’ added awkwardness. Harris was inefficient, did not look comfortable playing a two-man game with Embiid, and despite his team desperately needing some outside shots, he tried to make just two tries, and missed both. (The Sixers shot as a team 5-of-21 from outside the arc. Jayson Tatum shot only 8-of-12.)
The blame does not fall solely on the shoulders of Harris and Horford. Embiid was great in the first quarter, but his influence faded as the game went on. It’s hard to separate his own attacking abilities from what’s going on around him, but Embiid’s two-way commitment is 100 percent his responsibility. Embiid did, both by design and for energy saving, did his best to never leave the paint on defense. That means deep drops on every pick and roll, allowing Boston wingers to often run in wide-open threes. By my count, the Celtics hit seven virtually undisputed threes due to Embiid’s decision to hang in the paint. And it’s not that he got away with bad shooters. If anything, Boston could even have taken more advantage of the head-scratching scheme.
The series is apparently not over. And it would be a little unfair to definitively judge this Sixers team without Simmons. But Philly did not just lose. It looked listless and completely exaggerated. And it’s not like the Celtics snuck up on everyone in the East as one of the teams they had to go through to win the conference. The fact that Philly could look so flat and two high paid players could throw up such disappointing efforts against a rival is a reason to worry about this series otherwise it would not have if these losses at least fought hard.
The bubble can be a complicated time to make long-term decisions about each team. But it also means that teams have nowhere to hide. The Celtics do not dominate because of an advantage over the houses. The Sixers do not lose because they lack rest. There are no excuses other than just not meeting the moment.
Two years ago, when the Sixers lost in the playoffs against the Celtics, they were still on the serve. The core was young and self-grown. The front office had hood and grid flexibility. No relationships were soured due to bitter defeats. Two years later, and the view is almost the exact opposite. That’s how fast life can change in the NBA. On Wednesday, it only took the last three quarters to show what this team of Sixers is, at best, mistaken. How they react will likely determine the futures of different people.
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