This was kind of a weird game. Maybe because it was the first preseason game, the Celtics were of course without Rob and having to go up against Embiid, and early foul trouble messed up their big rotation.
That said, their offense looked excellent, though their defense looked to be very much a work in progress.
The Celtics jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the first before Philly went on a 23-8 run keyed by a flagrant landing spot foul on Horford that was BS. James Harden went up for a 3 with Al closing out. On the way down, Harden basically reached his foot out to land on Al's, leading to a flagrant foul on Al. I understand whythat rule exist, but shooters should not be allowed to hunt fouls like that and get awau with it - it should be the same kind of non-call as when a shooter kicks his leg out to make contact with thedefender on a jump shot. Anyway, this happened early and was Al's second foul, leading to Vonleh having to come in early , picking up 2 quick fouls, etc. The Celtics fouled Harden on another three pointer, later, and the Sixers ended the quarter up 29-24 behind 16 points from Harden (8-8 at the line).
The second quarter was a track meet won by the Celtics, 39-34, with Brown (14 points), Tatum (8 points), and Brogdon (8 points) accounting for most of the offense. Offensively speaking, the Celtics are just a different team with Brogdon as 6th man. He got them going in the quarter. Tied 63-63 at the half.
The third was the Celtics best quarter of the night - they won it 35-25, led by 17 from Tatum.
The Celtics started the with a lineup of Brogdon, White, Hauser, Blake, and Grant which held its own for a couple of minutes before the Celtics came back with Vonleh and Brown and continued to hand on until the starters came back late. The final score was 126-117, but the game was not as close as that.
Brown and Tatum looked great in this one, each scoring 35. Tatum added 12 rebounds and 4 assists. They did notshoot well from three (combined 6-19), but shot very well from 2 (combined 21-25). This was a mix of fast break offense, Tatum driving to the basket, and both Tatum and Brown taking good midrange shots when they took them. I think Tatum has changed the way he drives a bit, to great effect: he drives to the basket instead of driving past the basket and hoping to get a foul call or use his reach to lay it in.
Grant was in foul trouble a lot of the game and had to guard Embiid at times, but he managed to shoot 5-5 from the floor, including hitting 3-3 from three and converting a 3 point play. He drove one closeout from the corner for one of his 2 point baskets. 15 points total.
Brogdon immediately showed his value, coming off the bench to score 16 points on 7-11 shooting, though he missed both of his threes. He also had 4 assists and was able to driveto score or to find teammates.
Smart, after a mediocre preseason, had a nice game. Shot only 3-8 from the floor (1-4 from three), but got to the line a lot (7-8 FTs) and finishing with 14 points and a team-leading 7 assists. There was a third quarter fast break where Bogdon had the ball and had Tatum and Brown running the floor... and Brogdon's pass found neither of them. I wonder if he knew which of them he was passing to and if they knew which one should get it. But the Celtics controlled the rebound and Smart buried his only three.
The center rotation was messed up by having Horford pick up 2 quick fould followed by Vonleh doing the same. Al, Vinleh, Blake, and maybe a minute or 2 of Grant in a small lineup played C. Blake continues to look old and creaky, and he missed both of his shots from the field, but he did have 5 rebounds and an assist in 8 minutes. I'm not sure what to take from this game given the foul trouble and having to play against Embiib, other than that the Celtics held their own.
No minutes for Luke Kornet and only 3 for Sam Hauser.
Hard to evaluate what this means going forward beyond thatthe fofense looks very good and the defense looks like it needs some work.
The fact that he had to go overseas to get a bit better, that doesn't seem so strange to me.
