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While the Sixers had a decent finish to the first half, they couldn’t fully capitalize on Tatum’s foul trouble, in part because Maxey was soon on the bench as well. Tatum charged into Tucker for his third foul and sat with 5:33 remaining in the second quarter. And to start the second, Smart cut along the baseline before throwing down an alley-oop reverse dunk.Ī second-chance Horford three stretched the Celtics’ lead to 50-38. He also made a tough fadeaway jumper with 0.4 seconds to go in the first after being blocked by Embiid. Following a scramble for possession that the Celtics won late in the first quarter, Smart nailed a crowd-pleasing three. While it’s awfully difficult to lead after a half in which your team makes under 10 percent of its threes, one reason the Sixers trailed by eight points is that Boston out-hustled them on several key plays. He made 7 of 8 foul shots and scored 13 points before intermission. He finished the evening 8 for 10 at the foul line.įree throws were also Embiid’s best source of offense in the first half. Though Harden couldn’t duplicate the magic from his 45-point Game 1 night, a first-quarter silver lining for the Sixers was the 33-year-old drawing six foul shots in the period. Harden saw a step-back three rattle around the rim and out late in the first quarter. Moving forward, we continue to think it might make sense to give Danuel House Jr. Niang made a nice defensive play taking a charge on Tatum, but he had a scoreless stint. Tucker declined a corner three, drove on Robert Williams III and got blocked, Georges Niang replaced him. Outside of Harden’s nine points, the Sixers received just 11 in the first quarter. Boston began 4 for 13 from the floor, 1 for 7 from long distance. While the Sixers started 3 for 13 from the field and 1 for 13 from three-point range, their defense generally started far stronger than in Game 1’s first quarter. Though head coach Doc Rivers said pregame the Sixers’ preference was to sub Embiid in and out as normal, the six-time All-Star ultimately headed to the bench with 5:09 left in the first quarter. He missed a couple of early jump shots and committed an after-timeout turnover when he looked for Tobias Harris on a duck-in and had the ball slip from his hand. The bottom line is when Embiid’s on the court, the Sixers’ perimeter defense has almost always looked less leaky.Įmbiid’s rust and suboptimal health were much more apparent on offense.

Embiid added four more blocks in the first half, including another impressive chase-down on Jayson Tatum and a rejection when Brown tried to dunk over him. He effectively contested one Derrick White attempt inside and picked up a chase-down block in transition against Marcus Smart. While that approach has tended to be effective at keeping Embiid away from the rim, he was still an immediate factor in the paint. Though Embiid did not move as confidently or decisively as usual, it was still clear that his presence upgraded the Sixers’ defense early.īoston opened playing a five-out style, often stationing Al Horford in the corner. Here are observations on the Sixers' Game 2 defeat: Embiid far sharper on defense early

Game 3 will be Friday night in Philadelphia. Kenny Smith on James Harden, Nick Nurse and the future of the Sixers