The Boston Celtics opened their season last night in disappointing fashion, falling to the 76ers, 107-93.
Gordon Hayward led all scorers with 25 points, while Jayson Tatum chipped in 21 points and 10 rebounds. Boston led after the first quarter, however, surrendered it’s lead by halftime and never recovered.
Despite hanging with Philly in the first half we couldn’t get it done, falling 107-93. pic.twitter.com/QU2eFH65oZ
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) October 24, 2019
It’s only the first game of the season, but we already know some things about this year’s squad.
First and foremost, we learned that this is going to be a process. And it’s going to take time. Luckily the NBA season is a marathon so the Celtics will have plenty of it.
The biggest takeaway I had was that the players that got their money didn’t show up at all. Kemba Walker, the Celtics big max-contract signing, gave the Celtics just 12 points on 4-18 shooting. I’ve got bad news for everybody in New England: if that’s the Kemba that shows up on a nightly basis, it’s going to be a long season.
Kemba Walker needs to be cardiac Kemba in order to be successful. And I think he will be. He’s too talented of a player to not knock down some of the routine shots that he was missing last night.
Secondly, can someone tell me what happened to Jaylen Brown last night. Did he forget how to play basketball? There’s no way he only attempted six shots last night, right?!
I know he was in foul trouble but that is not enough. Boston relies too heavily on it’s young two-way wings and only one of them showed up last night.
Now it wasn’t all bad and there isn’t any shame in losing to Philadelphia, one of the East’s best, on its home opener.
Tatum looked really good and is primed for a great season. I think they go as far as he’ll take them. He just needs everyone else to play their part.
The Celtics are back in action Friday night for the home opener at TD Garden against the Toronto Raptors.