Boston Celtics vs Philadelphia 76ers: 5 takeaways, including Jaylen Brown

Two days after giving up a monster game to Joel Embiid in a loss, the Boston Celtics gave up a monster game to Joel Embiid in a loss.

Embiid led the Celtics for a second straight game on Friday, as the Philadelphia 76ers retired in the second half for a 122-110 victory.

Five takeaways from a chippy, sometimes ugly game.

Tristan Thompson simply has nothing for Joel Embiid.

Embiid punished the Celtics in the paint and made his way to the free throw line 15 times. His numbers – 38 points on an 11-for-15 shot – were almost as ridiculous as Wednesday, and nothing from the Celtics tried to slow him down in the slightest.

Ahead of the season, the hope for the Celtics was that Tristan Thompson could play Embiid 1v1, but that just isn’t doable. Thompson is strong, but he’s not big enough to challenge when Embiid fully expands (and he might not be strong enough, either, frankly). Ahead of the game, Brad Stevens admitted to Brian Scalabrine that the Celtics don’t have the sheer muscle to handle Embiid like they have in the past – likely a reference to Al Horford and Aron Baynes. Even last season the Celtics had Enes Kanter, who was big enough to pick himself up.

Now it is less clear what Boston can do. The best option might be to double the team and scramble, but the Sixers have had their fill of shooters and are much better equipped to deal with this strategy (Seth Curry, one way or another, shoots close 60% on 3 points only this season).

Maybe it’s time to give Tacko Fall a chance?

Jaylen Brown seemed to be completely fed up with Embiid’s antics.

Friday – perhaps prompted by Marcus Smart’s implication that he “blazes” in search of fouls – Embiid’s dominance could have been a bit more personal. He growled at each basket and seemed to be looking for calls, raising his arms at all contact with an incredulous look at the officials.

At one point, Embiid and Brown appeared to be exchanging words as Embiid was on the free-throw line, and the Sixers star approached Brown to say something else. Brown’s face was left blank, but he immediately scored back-to-back aggressive baskets over the edge, and he seemed to play with more advantage the rest of the time. At one point, he crushed Ben Simmons’ shot and stood over the Sixers forward for a long time before offering a hand (Simmons declined).

Brown finished with 42 points on 28 shots. Tatum’s return will be big, but Brown is a real star at this point. The story for the next few weeks will be how Boston tries to maximize the trio of Tatum, Brown and Kemba Walker.

Kemba Walker’s surprise layups are fun to watch.

Once again, Walker – whose minute restriction was lifted to 25-28 minutes – looked quick and healthy, moving around screens and finding space on defense for a variety of shots.

Over the years Walker has developed an impressive layup package – a byproduct of being a heavy-duty scorer that registers under 6 feet. His surprise layups are a fun part of his bag – Walker is great at catching a tall, imposing man off guard and knocking over a photo from the glass.

Here is an example.

What an absurd finish from Kemba. pic.twitter.com/TlltA3JzNp

– Tom Westerholm (@Tom_NBA) 23 January 2021

Scoring a player as big as Embiid takes some creativity.

The Celtics lost minutes without Embiid in the third quarter.

When the Sixers retired in the third quarter, Embiid was on the bench. The Celtics can’t really afford to waste those minutes against Philadelphia, and they certainly can’t afford to lose those double-digit minutes.

After the game, Stevens expressed his disappointment with Boston’s execution. Beating the Sixers when they are beatable would be a good start.

Hoping Payton Pritchard is okay.

The Celtics rookie guard suffered what the Celtics called a sprained knee in the first half, collapsing to the ground after Brown was pushed in his leg. Pritchard seemed to be having a hard time, and he was helped off the ground without using any weights.

The Celtics have announced that Pritchard has suffered a sprained knee. Brad Stevens had no post-game updates and said he expects more testing to follow in the coming days.