Sixers Bell Ringer: Sixers fall victim to huge Celtics comeback, lose 118-110

Despite the tough loss to the Boston Celtics, the Philadelphia 76ers had a number of players perform well against the defending NBA champions.

Sixers Bell Ringer Season Standings:
Tyrese Maxey – 12
Jared McCain – 8
Joel Embiid – 7
Paul George – 7
Guerschon Yabusele – 4
Kelly Oubre Jr – 2
Ricky Council IV – 2
KJ Martin – 2
Justin Edwards – 2
Adem Bona – 1

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The Philadelphia 76ers almost looked like they were going to take down the defending NBA champions, even without some of their main starters. But from down 26 in the third period, the Boston Celtics roared back to defeat the hosting Sixers 118-110 on Sunday evening.

The Sixers were without Joel Embiid, Paul George, Andre Drummond, Caleb Martin and KJ Martin.

Tyrese Maxey’s streak of playing insanely high-level basketball continued as he shredded the Celtics’ defense early and often. He led the floor with 16 first-period points score himself and assisted on six more, meaning he was involved with 22 of the Sixers’ 29 points in the first frame. Boston, by contrast, managed just 21 points in the first 12 minutes thanks to 30% field goal shooting (7-for-23) and 25% three-point shooting (4-for-16).

The Celtics’ abysmal shooting continued and the Sixers’ defense started forcing more errors and turnovers towards the end of the first half, allowing Philadelphia to extend their lead up to 17 points by halftime, 61-44. Boston shot 33.3% from the floor (14-for-42) and 25.9% (7-for-27) from long range in the first half.

With the long range shots not falling, the Celtics fell back on getting into the paint and scoring from there. Philadelphia stayed red hot from three-point land, ending the third frame shooting 14-for-23 (60.9%) from long range. Boston wasn’t going away quietly, though, and went on a 13-2 run to end the third frame and cut their deficit from 26 points at one moment down to 14 entering the final period.

And, in a flash, the Celtics became the Celtics again. As the threes started falling, Boston absolutely rained them down. Suddenly, it was a single-digit game in the fourth before the Celtics ultimately took their first lead of the game since early in the first period. Once Boston was in the driver’s seat, the switch was absolutely flipped. The Celtics couldn’t miss a damn shot, the Sixers couldn’t stop them from throwing them up and were struggling to score any points of their own. From midway in the third period through the end of the game, Boston hit 14 of 21 attempted triples. Philadelphia ultimately fell 118-110.

The Sixers are off Monday and will be back on the Wells Fargo Center court on Tuesday to host the (now Luka Doncic-less) Dallas Mavericks.

Until then, let’s get to the Bell Ringer. It was a tough loss because of the lead they had, but there were still a number of Sixers players that shined on Sunday.

Tyrese Maxey: 34 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists

Photo by David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images

Maxey has been open about the fact that he was feeling the mental effects earlier this season of the team’s injury issues and inconsistent lineups earlier this season, but has since shifted to a mentality of just wanting to go out there and play at his high level no matter who else is on the floor.

I’d say it’s working.

Maxey went right to work using his speed and control with the ball to absolutely shred through the Celtics. On the times there wasn’t a clear lane, he’d just pull up to sink it from long range. With 16 points of his own in the first frame, Maxey scored or assisted on 22 of the Sixers’ 29 first period points. Not much more you can say about how well this Sixers’ offense is churning running through him right now.

With Guerschon Yabusele and a few others getting to work, Maxey finally wasn’t the only one scoring for Philadelphia, but he still was chipping in buckets and points from the foul line. With nearly six minutes left in the third, Maxey passed the 30-point mark and notched his fifth consecutive game with at least 30.

Some interesting foul calls against him meant Maxey had to be a bit more passive later in the game. He absolutely struggled towards the end with the Celtics in complete control of both ends of the floor, but still another stellar effort from Maxey who was a big reason the Philadelphia ever had the lead over Boston.

Ricky Council IV: 11 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 steal

I won’t say it was a perfect evening by any means for Ricky Council IV. He made a number of what could easily be considered young player mistakes that one can hope he grows out of, resulting in three turnovers and a couple personal fouls he could have absolutely avoided.

Nevertheless, seeing Council go from just the acrobatic dunk machine to an all-around contributor for the Sixers. Don’t get me wrong, he still did the dunking (below), but it’s coming along with a lot more smart, productive fundamental basketball. Council showed the ability for some solid playmaking against the Celtics, putting up a career-high eight assists, doubling his previous mark. He aided the game on the glass, pulling in seven rebounds. Minus those few unnecessary fouls, he was solid and active on defense. Just an all-around solid game from RC4.

Guerschon Yabusele: 21 points, 6 rebounds, 1 steal

Even at its absolute worst, one of the joys of this season has been watching Guerschon Yabusele’s second stint in the NBA. When he was signed to the Sixers’ in the offseason, there were wonderings of whether Yabu would have what it takes to play at this league’s level. Well, wonder no more.

Yabusele continues to be such a bright spot in this lineup on both ends of the floor, night after night. Sunday was no exception. Yabu was energetic throughout facing his former team from his first stint in the association, but his best stuff came in the third period. He scored 12 of his 21 points on 5-for-6 field goal shooting in the penultimate frame. Emphatic dunks, a couple triples, some cutting layups — you name it, he was doing it. Yabu was seemingly everywhere on the floor in the period and was a big reason the Sixers’ lead didn’t deplete then.

Yabusele finished this one with 21 points on 8-for-13 field goal shooting and was 2-for-4 from long range. He also had six rebounds and one steal.

Plus… the emotion. How could you not like this guy?

Kelly Oubre Jr.: 18 points, 13 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal

This wasn’t a perfect game from Oubre. He had some careless mistakes and wasn’t the most efficient offensively. That being said, Oubre did a lot right in this one that deserves some recognition.

One of the biggest things that has stuck out to me lately about Oubre has been his rebounding. With guys like Joel Embiid and Andre Drummond sidelined, it is imperative that being aggressive on the glass is a collective effort from the Sixers right now, and Oubre is absolutely doing his part. He ended up with 13 boards tonight and is averaging 9.8 per game in the past six games. I use that timeframe because the past six games have been some of the best basketball we’ve seen all season from the Sixers, and little developments like Oubre’s rebounding have contributed immensely to that.

It was offensively a bit of a mixed bag tonight from Oubre. While he wasn’t the most efficient, shooting just 6-for-17 from the floor, he did knock in a few timely threes including one in the fourth period while the Sixers were desperately trying to stay within reach of the Celtics. He also drew a number of fouls, but only hit 4-of-8 from the charity stripe.

Decent defense, though. All-in-all, a good showing from Oubre, if not just a bit streaky.

Justin Edwards: 12 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assists, 1 steal, 1 block

Edwards played a hell of a lot of basketball tonight (44 minutes and 12 seconds to be exact) and a lot of it was damn good.

The rookie didn’t shy away from the challenge of the defending NBA champions at all. He looked confident and smooth with the catch-and-shoot triple, which would be a huge asset to this Sixers’ team if he can continue to develop that skill. He finished with 12 points on 4-for-6 field goal shooting and was 2-for-4 from long range. He pulled in seven rebounds with four coming on the offensive end. He did more than hold his own defensively and notched a steal and a block for his troubles. He even tacked on an assist for good measure.

Edwards (similarly to RC4) is playing so well that he’s making the argument to continue getting minutes even when this team is totally healthy (if such a thing ever occurs). He played the most minutes on the entire squad on Sunday and was a +4 in a game the Sixers’ lost by eight. Remember, this is an undrafted rookie playing against the defending champs of the NBA.

We’ll take that, for sure.