3 observations after Sixers lose second straight preseason game to Celtics originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The 2023-24 Sixers’ first preseason game at Wells Fargo Center was relatively forgettable.
With Bryce Harper leading the Phillies to a fireworks-packed NLDS win across the street, the Sixers fell Wednesday night to a 112-101 exhibition loss, dropping to 0-2 in the preseason.
The Sixers’ leading scorers were Kelly Oubre Jr. (18 points) and Tyrese Maxey (17 points). Celtics guard Payton Pritchard had a team-high 17 points.
James Harden, Joel Embiid, Furkan Korkmaz and Danuel House Jr. were out for the Sixers. Boston’s Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum also sat.
The Sixers’ third of four preseason contests will be Monday night in Brooklyn against the Nets. Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said pregame it’s a fair expectation that the team would have all its players available for that game, though he joked he “wouldn’t put any money on it.”
Here are observations on the Sixers’ loss Wednesday:
Reed recalibrating
Just as he had in the Sixers’ preseason opener Sunday at TD Garden, Paul Reed missed a three-pointer on his first touch.
Soon after, Reed deliberated over an open jumper and passed it up. He failed to score inside on Kristaps Porzingis in between those plays.
While Reed’s instincts have often served him well defensively, he’s not yet always making natural, smooth decisions offensively under Nurse. As Reed noted after the Sixers’ practice Tuesday, one challenge is that he isn’t accustomed to having a green light behind the arc.
“The most important thing is when I’m open, not hesitating and just letting it fly,” Reed said. “And realizing where my shots are going to come from and when they’re going to be available. It’s kind of new for me. Last season, if I was taking threes I probably wouldn’t have played for, like, 10 games. This year, they want me to shoot the ball more.
“I’m still making the adjustment. It’s just realizing where my shots are going to come within the offense — just getting used to that.”
Reed had an encouraging third quarter, playing a generally sensible and more decisive style offensively. He even tossed an alley-oop dish to Oubre.
For the night, Reed finished with 10 points on 5-for-9 shooting, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals.
Green’s still got something
Danny Green’s initial on-court action was as promising as possible.
He got a three-pointer up seconds after checking into the game and canned it. On defense, Green immediately picked off a pass and then converted a coast-to-coast layup.
Since his first stint as a Sixer, Green has likely dropped a bit on the ranking of the roster’s swiftest players. He moves as you’d expect a 36-year-old who’s come back from a serious knee injury to. Still, Green looked Wednesday like a player who continues to belong in the NBA. Over the final 3:50 of the first quarter, he posted eight points on 3-for-3 shooting, two steals, an assist and a rebound. One of those makes was a step-back three with the shot clock dwindling.
Though no one will mistake Green for speedy, his presence Wednesday didn’t hurt the Sixers’ transition offense. Green fires up jumpers quickly and has honed his feel for where to be on the floor. He even threw a long-distance diagonal pass to assist an Oubre three.
Oubre’s scoring pop (and efficiency) was a plus, too. He gave the Sixers 16 first-half points on 5-for-5 shooting. Compared to the Sixers’ preseason opener, Oubre seemed to have a sharper sense for which lanes to fill in transition and how he should attack early in the shot clock. If his jumpers drop at a decent rate and he plays focused, active defense, Oubre will presumably play substantial minutes this season.
Defensive work to do
The Sixers’ team defense wasn’t good in the first half. The Celtics scored 67 points before intermission and shot 56.1 percent from the floor in the first half. Although the Sixers had a couple of nice spurts in which they scrambled around the floor, deflected passes and made Boston uncomfortable, they didn’t have consistent success.
Of course, some miscommunications should disappear soon; Maxey and De’Anthony Melton, who made his preseason debut, talked things out at one stoppage. (True to form, Melton recorded two blocks and a steal in 21 minutes.)
The Sixers should also eventually strike a better overall balance between aggressive and overzealous defense. Nurse mentioned pregame that he thought the Sixers committed too many fouls in their first game, and Maxey struggled on that front Wednesday. Late in the second quarter, the 22-year-old subbed out with four fouls. Melton had four in the game, too.
The Sixers had a bright defensive moment in the third quarter when, out of a Celtics timeout, Melton and Oubre trapped Payton Pritchard in the backcourt, forcing another Boston timeout with 17 seconds left on the shot clock. Ultimately, Tobias Harris intercepted a long, desperate inbounds pass. Once the regular season begins, we expect Nurse will draw up more coverages along those lines when the Sixers want to shift a game’s momentum.
Jaden Springer wasn’t a major standout for the Sixers this time, but he again flashed his offensive progress over the past year in a 10-point night. Springer is now 4 for 5 from three-point range this preseason.
