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The Philadelphia 76ers are headed to TD Garden to take on the Boston Celtics for the fourth and final time this regular season.
Joel Embiid will not be shipping up to Boston, however, after an MRI on Saturday confirmed that Embiid suffered a strained right oblique in the team’s win over the Miami Heat on Thursday night. He will miss the Sixers’ next three games (including Sunday’s) before being re-evaluated. Other than Embiid, Philadelphia will also continue to be without Paul George on Sunday as he sits out his suspension.
After facing off three times in the first three weeks of the season, the Sixers and Celtics haven’t met since way back in November. Philadelphia actually leads the series against Boston so far with two wins and one loss, but all three games were extremely close — the largest margin being two points, the other games decided by a single point.
For this fourth and final meeting the Celtics will, despite rumors and rumblings as of late, still be without Jayson Tatum, who has not played this season after tearing his Achilles tendon in his right leg in the playoffs last season.
Baylor Scheierman also is questionable for Boston for Sunday due to a thumb fracture. Scheierman isn’t a name you might not recognize, but the sophomore guard has actually become a bigger piece of the Celtics rotation as of late. He played 24.3 minutes per game in February and started in the Celtics’ last six contests, averaging 8.7 points and 5.0 rebounds while playing some good defense in that span.
Even without Tatum this season, Boston has been looking pretty damn good, especially since the turn of the calendar year. The Celtics have won 10 of their last 12 games and are currently second in the Eastern Conference at 39-20, trailing only the 44-14 Detroit Pistons.
Jaylen Brown has been far and away the Celtics leader all season, averaging a career-high 29.1 points per game in 53 contests, but he has a supporting cast playing good basketball right now as well. Payton Pritchard and Derrick White are chipping in career-highs of 17.3 points and 17.1 points per game, respectively.
There’s also Nikola Vucevic, who was moved to Boston from the Chicago Bulls at the trade deadline. He has played just eight games with the Celtics but came alive for a big double-double in their most recent contest, putting up 28 points on 9-for-13 field goal shooting and 3-for-3 from long range with 11 rebounds. Sure, it was in a blowout win over the Brooklyn Nets, but still something to watch as Vucevic continues to acclimate to the Celtics squad.
The Sixers have been on a positive streak recently as well — a short one, but positive nonetheless — winning their last three games in a row and putting momentum back in their favor after losing four straight prior. The most recent two of those victories came with the help of Embiid, while the first (against Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves) was without him. Philadelphia has been shooting the ball well (or at least better than their usual) in that three-game stint as well, hitting 51.7% from the floor and 42.3% from long range.
It’s a good thing that the Sixers have been hotter from beyond the arc, too, because they’re likely going to need those threes to keep up with Boston. As of Saturday evening, the Celtics are second in the NBA in offensive rating at 120.2. For reference, the Sixers are more of a middle-of-the-pack team at 15th (115.0) in the category.
This is going to be a tough one for the Sixers sans Embiid to kick off a busy March, with 16 games in the month. It is certainly possible, with Philadelphia having done it before without their star center back in that two-point victory way back in November, but that’s ancient history now. Based on how the Celtics have been playing recently, it’s likely going to be one of those games the Sixers need everyone at their absolute best: they’ll need Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe to both score and facilitate well, Kelly Oubre Jr. to keep shooting as well as he has the past couple weeks, Quentin Grimes to chip in off the bench, everyone doing their jobs defensively, and someone… anyone… to be aggressive rebounding.
It’s going to take everyone.
The Sixers and Celtics tip off from TD Garden at 8 p.m. ET.
Game Details
When: Sunday, March 1, 8:00 p.m. ET
Where: TD Garden, Boston, MA
Watch: NBC, NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Follow: @LibertyBallers