Jaylen Brown, Celtics drop another close loss to 76ers

Jaylen Brown led the best way with 24 factors, however the Celtics got here up simply brief for the second time this season in opposition to the 76ers on Tuesday, falling 102-100 in a chaotic end. 

Listed below are the takeaways. 

The small print price the Celtics down the stretch.

The Celtics had been a mixture of unfortunate and inattentive within the remaining minutes, which isn’t a superb mixture for a group that may now not get by on expertise alone. 

First, some unfortunate: With 2:20 remaining, Sixers rookie V.J. Edgecombe fired up a 3-pointer that bounded excessive off the again rim and appeared to scrape the rafters earlier than falling again via, which gave Philadelphia a vital two-possession benefit at 100-96.

Then with the sport even within the closing seconds, Justin Edwards missed a go-ahead jumper (extra on why in a minute), and the Celtics might need had a possibility to win the sport with slightly below 10 seconds remaining if Jaylen Brown hadn’t missed a field out on Kelly Oubre, who laid the put-back up and in. That left the Celtics with 8.7 seconds and a two-point deficit. 

The Celtics bought additional unfortunate on the ultimate play, and as soon as once more Celtics followers may be trying to the Final Two Minute report for chilly consolation tomorrow round 5 p.m.: After Derrick White inbounded to Brown, Brown dished again to him for a 1-on-1 benefit in opposition to Andre Drummond. Drummond poked the ball free, however he appeared to make a lot of contact with White’s arm as he did so. White’s heave discovered the palms of Neemias Queta, who rushed his put-back try a bit and couldn’t ship the sport to additional time.

The Celtics can take a variety of positives from Tuesday’s recreation, however one of many largest causes Joe Mazzulla preaches particulars so usually with reference to this group is that with out paying shut consideration to them, successful turns into much more troublesome. 

Jordan Walsh remained a serious constructive.

The Jordan Walsh emergence continued on Tuesday with almost 30 good minutes off the bench. In one thing of a shock transfer, Walsh began the second half, and he performed the closing minutes – locking up Tyrese Maxey on three consecutive possessions by staying with the speedy star in isolation, slithering over screens and making Maxey work for his pictures along with his size and athleticism. Walsh’s defensive instincts and footwork are shocking given his gangly construct, however his versatility was on full show, and he completed with two steals and two blocks along with his seven rebounds. 

Offensively, Walsh stays a little bit of a shaky spacing possibility, however he did make one among his three 3-point makes an attempt – not not like Sunday’s recreation clincher, the shot was created off a go by Brown, who trusted the 21-year-old with a shot within the nook. The Celtics additionally use him as a screener, which generally is a helpful job for a participant along with his degree of vitality and energy.

Walsh appears to be forcing his method into the rotation, and provided that there nonetheless appears to be a beginning spot up for grabs on this Celtics roster, he might get his first begin of the 12 months (and the third begin of his NBA profession) within the close to future. 

Even when he doesn’t, the previous couple of video games have completed quite a bit for Walsh’s profession – he has gone from one thing of a questionable NBA participant by comparatively widespread consensus to somebody that Mazzulla retains on the ground down the stretch in a detailed recreation. 

No Josh Minott within the second half.

In maybe associated information, Minott sat down with 6:35 remaining within the first quarter and remained on the bench till halfway via the second. As soon as he re-entered the sport, he did little or no – committing a pair of taking pictures fouls earlier than Mazzulla sat him again down once more. 

Minott, who began the sport and has been a serious a part of the rotation over the previous couple of weeks, by no means returned. He completed the sport with three factors and one rebound after taking part in simply over eight minutes. 

After the sport, Mazzulla was requested if he spoke to Minott in regards to the determination to maintain him on the bench and easily stated that the dialog would stay “between Josh and myself” – a considerably ominous method of phrasing issues, even when that wasn’t Mazzulla’s intent. 

Derrick White made some 3-pointers. 

White nonetheless wasn’t environment friendly (18 factors on 7-for-20 taking pictures), however seeing him get a couple of pictures to fall (4-for-11 from three) felt like progress. His new 3-point celebration seems to be masking his eyes and ears which isn’t fairly as catchy as discovering a pocket filled with 3-pointers, however maybe given his chilly streak, a motto of “See no evil, hear no evil” with the media – whether or not information or social – may be for one of the best. 

White added a pair of blocks and 7 assists, and his remaining heave was a fairly excessive IQ determination even when it didn’t work out – quite than making an attempt to create one thing higher that nearly actually wouldn’t have materialized within the two seconds afforded him, he threw up a prayer of a triple presumably realizing that since Drummond was fouling him on the perimeter, he wasn’t beneath the rim to stop Queta from having a shot on the game-winner. 

Your day by day replace on the shooters lacking pictures. 

Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard completed a mixed 2-for-9 from 3-point vary, which isn’t notably notable besides to proceed to notice that the Celtics’ already small margin for error turns into a heck of quite a bit smaller when two of their greatest shooters can’t discover the vary.

The Celtics have nonetheless been 15.3 factors per 100 possessions higher with Pritchard on the ground versus on the bench – he finds a variety of methods to contribute even when he isn’t making pictures, however they’re anxiously awaiting his water to seek out its degree, and it stays stubbornly low.

The Celtics are taking a ton of lengthy twos.

Had been you somebody who complained in regards to the variety of 3-pointers the Celtics took final 12 months? If that’s the case, we’ve excellent news for you: This 12 months’s group is taking the second-most lengthy mid-range pictures within the league. Per Cleaning the Glass, the Celtics are taking 13.3 p.c of their pictures from lengthy mid-range – a quantity that may solely go up after they took 23.3 p.c of their pictures from lengthy mid-range in opposition to the Sixers. 

The unhealthy information, in fact, is that this 12 months’s group can be taking the fewest pictures on the rim and the second-fewest nook 3s, and maybe because of missing these two extremely environment friendly choices, the Celtics have the twenty third greatest efficient field-goal proportion (52.6) and the Sixteenth-best offense general after ending third final 12 months and first throughout their championship run in 2024 when the threes had been flowing quick and straightforward.

Hugo González twisted each ankles. 

The rookie had a troublesome recreation. Within the third quarter, defending Tyrese Maxey, González took a step again to include the Sixers star, solely to take an ungainly step and tweak his left ankle a bit, though he remained within the recreation. 

A couple of minutes later, González had a extra painful wanting damage – after a powerful steal, he raced up the ground with Quentin Grimes trailing him, however as he planted to go up for a layup, his ankle twisted outward painfully and he traveled as he tried to regain his footing and toss up a prayer of a layup. González was instantly faraway from the sport and went to the locker room. 

The excellent news: As we’ve famous earlier than this season, 19-year-olds bounce again rapidly from damage, and González was upgraded to “out there” halfway via the fourth quarter, though he didn’t return. We’ll see how sore he’s within the morning, however even when he misses the second night time of the back-to-back, he’ll then have a couple of days off to get well. 

What’s subsequent

The Celtics will now head again to Boston to tackle the Grizzlies on Wednesday, wrapping up their three-games-in-four-nights stretch. After that, they get three days off earlier than the Clippers go to on Sunday, adopted by a visit to Brooklyn to tackle the Nets in every week.