Sixers (9-24) at Celtics (21-14) Game #36 1/6/17

[FLCeltsFan]

at
Philadelphia 76ers (9-24) at Boston Celtics (21-14)
Regular Season Game [HASH]36, Home Game [HASH]16
Friday, January 6, 2017
7:30 PM ET
TV: CSNNE, CSN-PHI, NBA-LP 755(DTV)/755 (Xfinity)
Radio: 98.5 Sports Hub, 97.5 The Fanatic
TD Garden



Probable Starters

PG Isaiah Thomas....... SG: Avery Bradley

C: Amir Johnson

SF: Jae Crowder .............. PF: Al Horford

Celtics Reserves
Jaylen Brown
Gerald Green
Terry Rozier
James Young
Jonas Jerebko
Tyler Zeller
Marcus Smart
Kelly Olynyk
Demetrius Jackson
Jordan Mickey

Injuries
Tyler Zeller (illness) game time decision
James Young (ankle) game time decision

Head Coach
Brad Stevens




Probable Starters

PG: TJ McConnell ................ SG: Nik Stauskas

C: Joel Embiid

SF: Robert Covington .............. PF: Ersan Ilyasova

Sixers Reserves
Jahlil Okafor
Jerryd Bayless
Dario Saric
Nerlens Noel
Timothe Luwawu Cabarret

Injuries
Richaun Holmes (concussion) out
Ben Simmons (foot) out
Robert Covinton (knee) game time decision
Sergio Rodriguez (ankle) out
Gerald Henderson (hip) questionable

Coach
Brett Brown

Game Notes
The Celtics continue their home stand with a visit from the division rival Philadelphia 76ers for the 2nd of 4 meetings this season. The Celtics and Sixers met once in the first game of the preseason with the Sixers coming out on top. They also met in the beginning of December on the Sixers home court and the Celtics escaped with a 107-106 win. They will meet in Boston on 2/15 and in Philadelphia on 3/19.

Both teams should be rested coming into this game. This is just the second game that they are playing over a 7 day stretch with their last game on Tuesday. The Sixers have also been off since Tuesday when they pulled out a thrilling last second win over the Timberwolves.

Both teams have won their last 2 games and are looking for their third straight win. The Celtics are 8-2 over their last 10 games while the Sixers are 4-6 over their last 10. The Celtics are looking to establish themselves on their home court with a 9-6 record and a schedule in January that is heavy on the home games. The Celtics are playing in the first of back to back games with the Pelicans coming to town on Saturday.

James Young (ankle) and Tyler Zeller (illness) are both listed as game time decisions for the Celtics. Gerald Henderson (hip) is listed as questionable for the Sixers. Richaun Holmes (concussion), Sergio Rodgriguez (ankle) and Ben Simmons (foot) are all expected to miss this game.

Key Matchups
vs
Amir Johnson vs Joel Embiid
Embiid sat out the first meeting between these two teams for rest and so this is the first time the Celtics will have to deal with him. He is averaging 19.2 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.4 blocks. He is the reigning December Rookie of the Month and will be a tough matchup. The Celtics will need to slow him down and keep him away from the basket.

vs
Al Horford vs Ersan Ilyasova
Ilyasova is averaging 14.0 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists. He came up big in their first meeting with 19 points and so the Celtics will need to keep him from having another big game.

Honorable Mention
Marcus Smart vs Dario Saric
This will be a battle of sixth men. In the first meeting between these two teams Saric had 21 points and 12 rebounds in a break out game for him. He is averaging 9.4 points, 5.9 rebunds and 1.7 assists. The Celtics need to keep him from having another big game against them.

Keys to the Game
Defense - The Celtic struggled with their defense early on and seemed to be getting their defensive swagger back recently, especially in their last game against the Jazz. They need to keep their priority on playing tough team defense. Defense wins games.

Be Aggressive - The Celtics have to be the more aggressive team and go after all the loose balls, and aggressively crash the boards and go after rebounds. As said above, they must be aggressive on defense. They also have to be aggressive in taking the ball into the paint. The more aggressive team will usually get the benefit of the whistles.

Move the Ball - The Celtics have shown beautiful ball movement at times and they have been able to make the extra pass and find the open man to get the best shot. But at other times, their assist levels have dropped and they play more one on one and take quick shots. Hero ball rarely wins games.

Rebound - Rebounding has been a weakness for this team this season so far. They must put out the extra effort to crash the boards and win the rebounding battle. The Sixers average 12.8 2nd chance points per game and the Celtics need to grab rebounds to keep them from scoring on put backs and second chance baskets.

X-Factors
Focus - The Celtics lost one game to the Sixers in the preseason and they just squeaked by them by one point in their first meeting. The Celtics can't come into the game expecting a win because of the Sixers record. They have to come in focused and play their game and not expect an easy game because the Sixers are below .500.

Officiating - Officiating will always be an x-factor. Some crews call every little bit of contact that takes the flow out of the game. Some crews let them play. Some refs have an agenda against a team, a coach or a player. All of these things can alter the way a game is played and the ability of a team to play well.

[jmost]

The Sixers are starting to find themselves and will be getting Simmons back fairly soon. As much as I hated their repeated tanking over the past several seasons, they are set up to be pretty good for a long time once everyone is healthy and they trade Okafor and/or Noel for pieces that fit better with Embiid and Simmons. A return to the great rivalry of the early 80's would be a fantastic thing! But in the mean time, let's keep things rolling with another win.

[Roadrunner]

Jan 6, 2017 8:34:03 GMT -5 jmost said:

The Sixers are starting to find themselves and will be getting Simmons back fairly soon. As much as I hated their repeated tanking over the past several seasons, they are set up to be pretty good for a long time once everyone is healthy and they trade Okafor and/or Noel for pieces that fit better with Embiid and Simmons. A return to the great rivalry of the early 80's would be a fantastic thing! But in the mean time, let's keep things rolling with another win.

I see PHI with a piece or two. If your going to tank, you really need to get one transcendent player.

PHI gave BOS a great game last time. Illyasova hit a few clutch 3's late.

[DERRENMATTS]

Green guys are down double digits approaching the half.

This is how I know I believe in this team. I have great confidence that we'll make adjustments at halftime and win this game. The real good teams in this league do that. I've seen the Spurs down at the half, and you wonder what happened, only to find them winning the game convincingly because of a strong second half.

[mev17]

Hard to win when you are out-shot 39% to 54%. Once again, we seem to have taken this team too lightly - there are no nights off in this league!!

[DERRENMATTS]

Told you so!!!

Ok, it was a lot closer than I expected, but Mev hit it on the head -- we played down to the competition.

On another note, the Sixers are setting up to be a good team in a few seasons. Embiid is the real deal, barring injuries. And they have Saric and Simmons, both who are tall guys who can handle the rock and play different positions.

[jmost]

I think by the time March rolls around you will see the Sixers passing several teams in the standings.

I saw my friend Bob this morning (Brett Brown's father) and he says the Sixers feel Simmons is clearly their best player, including Embiid, mostly because he makes everyone else better. The other thing he said is that it's starting to look as though Noel fits with Embiid better than Okafor does - which obviously makes it more likely that Okafor is the one traded. I don't know that we'd be interested in Okafor, as neither his rebounding nor his interior defense is notable.