3 76ers takeaways from preseason vs. Celtics

The Philadelphia 76ers continued their preseason with a matchup in opposition to the defending champions, the Boston Celtics. Many of the veteran gamers rested on the second evening of a back-to-back and it confirmed. Boston went up by 22 early on and, unsurprisingly, by no means appeared again. Ultimate rating: 139-89.

Paul George repped his Sixers threads in an actual recreation for the primary time yesterday evening in a loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. He performed very effectively, although Philly’s porous protection within the first half laid the muse for a defeat. George, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Caleb Martin, Kelly Oubre Jr., Kyle Lowry, Andre Drummond, Eric Gordon and Reggie Jackson had been stored out however Boston, who hasn’t performed since Sunday, had most of its key gamers on deck, resulting in considerably unbalanced lineups. At the least Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford had been additionally out and the printed didn’t lag out quite a few instances.

Having a back-to-back within the preseason is additional wild however the Sixers nonetheless had one all the identical. Listed below are three takeaways from their matchup with the Celtics.

1. Jared McCain appears like he belongs

McCain had free reign to take management of this recreation with so many gamers above him within the pecking order sitting out. He did that on offense however continued to play arduous in all sides of the sport. On the listing of causes for Sixers followers to maintain watching this recreation, the rookie occupied the highest 10 spots on the listing — and legitimately appeared actually good.

The Sixers’ first-round choose fought on rebounds, snagging one away on the defensive finish from Jaylen Brown early within the recreation. He boxed out and scrapped for each miss that got here his means. He defended as greatest he may, producing a number of takeaways, and by no means let the scoreboard diminish his effort.

McCain missed most of his first few appears and shot poorly from deep however he made some nifty buckets within the early goings. He froze Luke Kornet in his sneakers to scoop a layup beneath him after which pivoted round Derrick White to attain along with his left hand. Within the second quarter, serving because the lead guard with out Jeff Dowtin Jr. by his facet, he received a righty layup from excessive off the glass to fall.

The Sixers had been clearly under-equipped for this recreation however even nonetheless, they made it very robust for McCain to get something going. Dowtin did one of the best job of getting issues organized and nobody else round McCain appeared tremendous composed going on the protection. McCain, with an array of artful strikes, overcame his lack of explosive athleticism and hit some good photographs over probably the most imposing perimeter protection within the NBA. Regardless of being hounded by White, top-of-the-line defenders within the sport, he by no means shied away.

The ultimate stat line for McCain in 32 minutes: 20 factors, three rebounds, three assists, three steals, 9-21 field-goal capturing, 1-8 three-point capturing.

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2. Guerschon Yabusele should get minutes at PF, proper?

By way of the primary three preseason video games, Yabusele has performed middle. He has been the first choice behind Drummond and began on the 5 on this recreation. Nick Nurse has talked about his positional flexibility earlier than however he stated that he was principally suited to be an influence ahead. Thus far, he hasn’t performed at that spot this preseason.

It could have been tougher to get Yabusele minutes on the 4 with the 76ers’ first- and second-string middle out however not unattainable. Enjoying him subsequent to KJ Martin, who has additionally often served as a small-ball 5, doesn’t rely. Adem Bona was nonetheless energetic for this recreation. The possibility to overlap their minutes for even a bit of bit was handed by, as was rolling Yabusele out with Max Fiedler.

Though Yabu’s flooring spacing was worthwhile at middle and he performed arduous, he doesn’t look like vertically imposing sufficient to be a middle for lengthy stretches. Every thing about this recreation was made additional troublesome for the Sixers, so no takeaways from this recreation are immensely significant. However even going in opposition to a third-string middle in Kornet, the Philly protection was very susceptible down low.

In opposition to his former NBA workforce, Yabusele scored eight factors and made two of his 4 three-point tries. After an unpleasant miss, he got here again down and made his subsequent two appears. He makes passes rapidly, conserving the ball shifting and solely seeking to get one thing for himself if he’s in or near the paint. His efficiency was first rate even when his candidacy to be a small-ball 5 is turning into flimsier.

3. Preseason scheduling is so foolish typically

NBA groups craft their very own preseason schedules in a means that The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov broke down in depth and in comparison with school soccer. The principle query on everybody’s thoughts coming into this recreation was raised abundantly after Boston’s starters mowed down Philly’s third-stringers and fringe NBA guys: why would the Sixers schedule a back-to-back within the preseason?

Not solely was this a back-to-back however one which began in Des Moines and culminated in Boston. This highway journey additionally features a recreation in Atlanta two days later. That’s quite a lot of miles in a short while span for even a regular-season recreation. However Philly selected this schedule.

The Celtics (and the Denver Nuggets) opened up the preseason in Abu Dhabi earlier than everybody else, in order that they didn’t need to come proper again house and play once more. They understandably needed to reacclimate to the time zone and take a break after the journey. However ready nearly per week for his or her subsequent recreation appears like rather a lot.

Joe Mazzulla taking part in his starters into the second half, even with the insurmountable lead, made sense. The Celtics need to ramp them up for the common season and taking part in them only one shift won’t have sufficed. The workforce most likely didn’t need its gamers inactive for over per week, so getting in reps in opposition to a glorified G League roster was preferable to ramping them again up after a lot day off.

The Sixers performed the Timberwolves within the house of their G League affiliate, the Iowa Wolves, which was a homecoming for head coach Nick Nurse. They understandably wouldn’t need their key gamers taking part in on the second evening of a back-to-back within the preseason. Even when extra veterans rested for this recreation than beforehand anticipated, Philly deliberately left itself with out most of its rotation gamers. Some new gamers received the possibility to play collectively however loads of others watched from the bench in road garments.

Probably the most practical assumption is that Philly needed an extended take a look at its fringe gamers. It needed to present McCain and different younger guys an opportunity to play important minutes in opposition to NBA competitors — one of the best the league has to supply, at that. In doing so, they received to stroll within the sneakers of the New Zealand Breakers for an evening, watching because the Celtics ran up the rating very quickly. That’s basketball, Suzyn.

Subsequent up for the 76ers’ preseason is a Monday recreation in opposition to the Atlanta Hawks.