Subscribe
Follow Us
There are at least a few reasons why the Philadelphia 76ers lost to the Boston Celtics 117-101 in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinals series, but for Sixers center Joel Embiid, that does not include the fact that the Sixers were coming off a long rest.
“You can’t blame that on being rusty or rest. I mean, we’re NBA players.”@JoelEmbiid on if the @sixers were affected by not playing for nearly a week. pic.twitter.com/tH2N2IhN6Y
— NBA TV (@NBATV) May 1, 2018
The Sixers played noticeably flat defensively on Monday and Boston did not think twice to capitalize on it. The Celtics drilled 17 long-distance shots in the game and shot 48.2 percent from the field overall. The Sixers looked clueless on how to stop the three-headed monster attack of Terry Rozier, Al Horford, and Jayson Tatum, who combined to score 83 points with each player shooting 50 percent or better.
Prior to Monday’s contest, the Sixers were last seen on the court on Apr. 24 during a series-clinching win over the Miami Heat in the first round. What followed for the Sixers was five full days of rest, while Boston only had a day off after beating the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 7 of their first-round series.
Embiid also did not play as though he was affected at all by a long layoff. He scored 31 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, and dished out five assists with a minus-6 plus/minus rating in 35 minutes of action. It’s the other Sixers who need to get out of a funk, at least defensively. Ben Simmons had 18 points, seven rebounds, and six assists but finished with a minus-21, while Dario Saric and Mario Belinelli were minus-20 and minus-23, respectively.
Game 2 of the series is scheduled to be played this Thursday at TD Garden. The Sixers were 8-5 in the regular season after two days of rest.
