Sixers come up short in 108-100 loss against the Celtics in Game 3

The Sixers lost 108-100 to the Celtics on Friday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena and now trail the series 2-1. This one hurts more than the Game 1 blowout because the Sixers were right there.

The Sixers were in the mix for all 48 minutes in front of a home crowd that was absolutely desperate to will this team to a series lead but they couldn’t get out of their own way on the plays that don’t require talent or athleticism.

The Celtics grabbed offensive rebounds that led to open threes. They turned Sixers turnovers into transition layups. Derrick White crashed from the corner with 35 seconds left, got between Maxey and Oubre for an offensive rebound that never should have been available, and extended a possession that the Sixers absolutely had to end.

That’s the ballgame right there. The Celtics finished with a 22-17 advantage in second-chance points and every single one of those extra possessions felt like a dagger.

Maxey dropped 31 points and was brutally honest about it afterwards. Offensive rebound leads to a three. Turnover leads to a three or a layup. Missed box-out leads to a layup. He’s seen this movie before and he knows exactly what’s killing this team.

The Sixers aren’t losing because they lack talent. They’re losing because the Celtics are executing the unglamorous stuff at a championship level and the Sixers are cutting corners on it.

The Sixers Bench Is Getting Exposed and There’s No Fix Coming

Boston outscored the Sixers’ bench 34-13. Thirty-four to thirteen. Payton Pritchard, Nikola Vucevic, Baylor Scheierman, and Luka Garza all knocked down threes off the Celtics’ bench.

The Sixers ran an eight-man rotation where Quentin Grimes took one shot and missed it and Justin Edwards’ only attempt got rejected by Jaylen Brown. That’s the entire bench contribution. One missed shot and one blocked shot.

The Sixers were 27th in bench scoring during the regular season and it’s getting exposed in the most brutal way possible against a Celtics team that is significantly deeper at every position. When Maxey or Edgecombe hit a cold stretch, there’s nobody coming off the pine to keep the offense alive. Boston knows this, so they load up on the Sixers’ starters and dare the bench to beat them. The bench can’t beat anybody right now and it’s not going to magically change in Game 4.

The Half-Court Defense Is Real. Everything Else Is the Problem.

The one genuinely encouraging thing through three games is the Sixers’ half-court defense. The Celtics scored 101.5 points per 100 half-court plays during the regular season. Over Games 2 and 3, Boston managed only 89.5 per 100 against the Sixers. That’s elite-level defensive work and it proves this team can compete with Boston when the game is structured.

The problem is that basketball isn’t played exclusively in the half-court. Transition defense has been a disaster. Rebounding has been a disaster. The Celtics are feasting on all the possessions between the structured sets and that’s where the eight-point margin came from on Friday night.

Maxey Needs to Stop Thinking and Start Attacking

When Maxey plays fast and decisive, he’s the best player in this series. Friday night he had multiple possessions where he turned the corner on the Celtics, had them scrambling, then pulled the ball back out and reset the offense instead of going to the rim.

This was awesome though…

He threw Edgecombe some brutal hot potato passes late in the shot clock that left the rookie in no-win situations. The Celtics are showing him different coverages every game and he’s processing instead of playing.

Edgecombe couldn’t get going in Game 3 after his historic 30-point Game 2 performance in Boston. That’s the reality of this series. When both guards are on, the Sixers can beat anyone.

When only one of them is rolling, it’s not enough to overcome the depth gap and the missing center. Both of them need to show up Sunday or this series is effectively over.

George had flashes. A pull-up three in space, some nice work in side actions. Oubre hit a couple of ridiculous shots on broken possessions. But neither one was consistent enough to take the load off the backcourt and that’s the fundamental issue without Embiid. Every game comes down to whether Maxey and Edgecombe can outscore the entire Celtics operation by themselves. That’s an impossible ask over a full series.

Game 4 Sunday Night Is Everything. Embiid Is Coming Back.

If the Sixers lose, they go down 3-1 and the series is over. They are not coming back from 3-1 against this Celtics team. Period.

Joel Embiid should be back for Game 4. He’s been ramping up his strength and conditioning program all week and the timeline lines up perfectly with what we’ve been saying since the surgery.

The return of Joel Embiid will change everything about this series. The half-court defense that has already been elite gets a legitimate anchor in the paint. The rebounding problem that cost them Game 3 gets solved by having a seven-footer who can actually control the glass.

The Celtics’ stretch big combo of Vucevic and Garza that ran Drummond ragged on Friday night becomes a non-factor when Embiid is standing in the middle of the lane.

Most importantly, Embiid’s presence slows the game down. Everything that has been killing the Sixers in this series, the transition breakdowns, the scramble possessions, the chaotic sequences where Boston generates second-chance threes, all of that gets minimized when the game becomes a structured half-court battle.

The Sixers have already proven they can defend Boston in the half-court at an elite level. Embiid coming back forces the game into that style for longer stretches and takes away the chaos that the Celtics have been thriving on.

He doesn’t have to be MVP Embiid, he just has to be out there controlling the paint, eating possessions in the post, and giving Maxey and Edgecombe the spacing and structure they need to operate.

Even at 70 percent, Joel Embiid completely changes the math of this series.

The adjustments beyond Embiid are still critical. Box out the guards crashing from the corners. Stop turning the ball over in transition. Get literally anything from the bench. Let Maxey be aggressive instead of letting the Celtics force him into overthinking every possession. Get Edgecombe involved early so he’s not trying to find his rhythm in the fourth quarter.

Embiid is back. The series shifts. Sunday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena with the MVP in the lineup for the first time this postseason. If the Sixers can’t win Game 4 at home with Embiid on the floor, then this series was never theirs to begin with. But I think they can. I think Embiid’s presence is the missing piece that turns a competitive series into a real fight. Boston should be nervous.

Sunday night. Full strength. Let’s ride.

Join The Chase