The Philadelphia 76ers might be on the highway with a possibility to achieve floor on the Boston Celtics within the Eastern Conference standings when the groups meet Wednesday evening.
Boston maintained sole possession of first place within the convention by beating the Detroit Pistons 111-99 Monday. The Celtics are a recreation forward of the Milwaukee Bucks and three video games forward of Philadelphia, which is alone in third place.
Philadelphia’s eight-game successful streak away from residence ended Sunday after the New York Knicks overcame an early 21-point deficit to earn a 108-97 victory. Joel Embiid had 31 factors and 14 rebounds for the 76ers within the loss. He made 18 of 19 free-throw makes an attempt.
Philadelphia has gained 9 of its final 11 video games but additionally surrendered a 21-point lead in a 119-109 loss to Orlando on January 30.
“It’s never easy,” Embiid mentioned. “A 20-point lead in the NBA — that’s nothing. Any team can come back and that’s what (New York) did (Sunday).”
The Knicks trailed by 21 within the first quarter, however had been inside two factors, 53-51, at halftime. The 76ers led 79-76 coming into the fourth.
“I thought our second unit came in and struggled,” 76ers coach Doc Rivers mentioned. “This is the second time that has happened. The same thing happened in Orlando. Both times, we were scoring too easy. The second group comes in and thinks this is an offensive game and they didn’t see the reason the first group got the lead was because of defense.”
Boston was with out Jaylen Brown (sickness), Marcus Smart (ankle) and Luke Kornet (ankle) for Monday’s victory over Detroit. Boston’s Jayson Tatum scored 18 of his game-high 34 factors within the third quarter of that victory, which helped the Celtics prolong a seven-point halftime result in 18 factors after three quarters.
“He took what the defense gave him,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla mentioned. “He got downhill. He was aggressive, I thought he took some really good shots early in the shot clock to keep his confidence going.”
Sam Hauser made the primary begin of his NBA profession rather than Brown, who’s averaging 27.0 factors per recreation this season. Hauser scored all 15 factors within the first half, when he sank 5 3-pointers.
“(The start) kind of took me by surprise,” Hauser mentioned. “I thought they would maybe put someone else in to start. They called my number and I was ready for it.”
Boston had misplaced 4 of its final six video games.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, 76ers guard Furkan Korkmaz not too long ago knowledgeable the group he want to be traded. Korkmaz, a profession 35.4 p.c shooter from 3-point vary, hasn’t performed in 9 of Philadelphia’s final 12 video games.
Wednesday’s matchup would be the second recreation between the Celtics and 76ers this season. Tatum and Brown every tossed in 35 factors when Boston opened the season with a 126-117 residence victory over Philadelphia.
James Harden had 25 factors in a shedding effort for Philadelphia. Harden made 5 3-pointers. The 76ers additionally acquired 26 factors and 15 rebounds from Embiid, and 21 factors from Tyrese Maxey.
