After the Boston Celtics lost at home to the Philadelphia 76ers on Christmas Day, Jayson Tatum was honest in his assessment that the defending champions had plenty of room for improvement.
The Celtics have been inconsistent since that performance, although they have won five of seven heading into Sunday’s road matchup with the Sixers.
Boston had not lost back-to-back games all season until the 118-114 holiday setback to Philadelphia. Tatum led the Celtics with 32 points, but the Sixers proved to be too much behind Tyrese Maxey’s 33 points and 12 assists.
“There’s things that we gotta address. We gotta be better,” Tatum said that day. “It’s still a long season. Nobody’s panicking. You just have to be able to navigate the emotional roller coaster of an NBA season. … Everyone’s fully capable and we’ve always done a good job at responding, and I have no doubt that we will.”
Tatum backed up his words Friday when he made the game-winning jumper with under a second remaining in a 118-116 road win over the New Orleans Pelicans. He finished with 27 points and 10 assists, complementing Jaylen Brown’s 28-point effort.
Tatum spun to his left and hit a tough fadeaway for the winning points.
“It was smooth, looked good, and he did it. He brought us home,” said Kristaps Porzingis, who contributed 16 points.
Boston won despite getting outrebounded 48-35 against a New Orleans team missing several key players. The Celtics also had no answers for Trey Murphy III, who torched their defense for 40 points.
“We didn’t play perfect, but it’s one of those games where if you win, you’re happy, and if you lose, you’re not,” Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said. “So you just have to take it all. We had some well-executed plays. I thought we executed down the stretch.”
Meanwhile, Philadelphia had its four-game winning streak snapped in Friday’s 137-134 defeat against the visiting Denver Nuggets. Maxey stood out in that contest as well, finishing with 42 points and nine assists.
“We didn’t win tonight, but I feel like we’ve done a good job of getting better every single day,” said Maxey, who was not chosen as an All-Star despite his impressive numbers (27.5 points, 6.1 assists and 1.9 steals per game).
The Sixers, despite hoping to send multiple players to the All-Star Game, will not have a representative. Joel Embiid (knee) and Paul George (finger) have both missed significant time this season and won’t play Sunday.
One player who will join Maxey in the starting lineup against Boston is Guerschon Yabusele, a former Celtics first-rounder who has been a pleasant surprise for the Sixers. The Frenchman scored a career-high 28 points against the Nuggets and is averaging 10.8 points and 5.5 rebounds in 45 games (23 starts).
“It was definitely a good game for us,” Yabusele said after Friday’s loss. “Sure, we didn’t get the win, but I feel like we’re on the right way and we’ve gotta keep doing what we’re doing.”
