Celtics Sent A Message With Tuesday Night's Annihilation Of 76ers
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Celtics put a massive exclamation point on their winning streak Tuesday night, demolishing the Philadelphia 76ers by 48 points. A message was indeed sent.
That message? The Celtics are legit. Very much legit.
While Boston's nine previous wins were all enjoyable and in their own right, fairly dominant, Tuesday night's 135-87 lambasting of Philly takes the cake. The 76ers are a very good team, even without newcomer James Harden, and the Celtics absolutely pantsed them on their home floor. Boston led by as much as 51 points and had Philly fans booing their team before halftime.
The Celtics couldn't be stopped on offense, draining a franchise-record 25 threes in Tuesday's win. The ball was on a string, with the Celtics assisting on 28 of the team's 46 made baskets. The Boston defense was at its best too, holding the 76ers to a season-worst 28.8 shooting percentage and just 23 makes. It was an all-around butt whooping by the Celtics on both ends of the floor.
The Celtics took control of the game from the jump, racing out to an 11-2 lead before Philadelphia called a timeout. They never let go from there. Tuesday night was the fourth straight road game that the Celtics have never trailed. That is 192 minutes of road basketball and the Celtics have led every single on of those minutes.
The Jays combined for 57 points on 19 of 34 shooting, with Jaylen Brown leading the charge with 29 points and eight rebounds. Jayson Tatum added 28 points, 12 rebounds and six assists, while Grant Williams made the most of his spot start with 12 points off 4-for-5 shooting from downtown.
Did we mention that Robert Williams didn't even play? Because Robert Williams didn't even play and the Celtics still annihilated their divisional foe. Even without their defensive anchor in the paint, the Celtics still held Joel Embiid to 19 points -- 13 of which came from the charity stripe.
And normally, losing Marcus Smart would spell doom and gloom for the Celtics. It's still not the best sight to see, and losing Smart for any period of time will greatly hamper Boston's ability to keep these good times going. But they appear better suited for such a loss now thanks to new guy Derrick White, who saw a lot of extra time Tuesday night after Smart left in the second quarter with an ankle injury. White continues to fit in seamlessly, scoring 11 points off the bench. He missed all four of his threes, but he was still a team-best plus-41 over his 28 minutes on the floor.
While the Celtics have been making life miserable for anyone they've faced over the last three weeks, no one was as miserable as the 76ers were Tuesday night. But Philly shouldn't be too disappointed, because they ran into an absolute wagon. Boston has now won five straight road games, including the last three by 30-plus points.
Seems pretty legit.
The Celtics defense, somehow, continues to get better too. Boston's defensive rating of 104.8 is the second-best in the NBA, behind only the Warriors and their 104.4 defensive rating. Tuesday's lopsided result has Boston on top of the East in terms of net rating, with their plus-5.5 good for fourth overall in the NBA. That's the kind of team you want when the playoffs arrive. And suddenly, the Celtics look like they'll be a very tough out when the playoffs arrive.
At 34-25, the Celtics now sit just one game behind the five-seeded 76ers in the Eastern Conference. They have a chance to head into the break on a 10-game win streak, hosting the 12-45 Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night.
The Celtics are on an absolute roll right now, and it looks like the only thing that can really stop them is the All-Star break. But when the NBA goes on its week-long break, a message will be lingering with the rest of the league: Beware, because the Boston Celtics are legit.