PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia 76ers entered Xfinity Mobile Arena on Sunday night looking to bounce back against the Boston Celtics and even the series 2-2 before the series shifts back to TD Garden.
That didn't happen. The Celtics jumped on the Sixers from the jump and cruised to a 128-96 win and now have a commanding 3-1 lead in the series. Boston scored 34 points in the opening quarter--24 from its bench unit--and shot 52.2% from the floor in the opening quarter to set the tone.
The Sixers were a step behind all night long. The Celtics had six offensive rebounds in the first quarter, alone on their way to a 51-30 rebounding advantage for the game. On the night, Boston knocked down 24 triples and shot 48.3% from the floor. The Sixers just didn't have any response.
"We just didn't seem like any matchup could guard anybody one-on-one tonight," coach Nick Nurse said after the loss. "I think a lot of that was just we had them pushed out and bottled up and physical and really off kind of rhythm for a couple games, and there was none of that tonight. I'm just not sure. We just again, I think, what is it? I don't know. I don't know why we couldn't block out better, rebound better, move better on defense, or whatever."
The Celtics are a team that relies so much on perimeter play. Guys like Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Payton Pritchard will feast off dribble penetration, getting the team set up, and either kick out to open shooters--as they did often in Game 4--or finish at the basket. It was one of those nights for the Sixers.
"They just kind of just moved us around, pushed us around, offensively and defensively," Tyrese Maxey added. "They got it to wherever spot they wanted to get to. No resistance, and that's unacceptable. That's not our brand of basketball that we play."
It was almost a replay of the 32-point loss in Game 1 to open this series.
"I mean, even the first game, they made some shots and stuff, but like, it was pretty physical," Maxey said. "They just walked into spots like that. I think they kind of just walked into spots and just got whatever they wanted. Then we got put in position where we thought we should over help, and then once you start over helping, it's not a team that you can really over help on, you know what I'm saying? So, you really have to guard your yard."
Pritchard, especially, bothered the Sixers on Sunday. He finished with a game-high 32 points and set the tone with 13 in the first quarter. He got free for a ton of open looks from deep and gave the Sixers fits all night long.
"We did not do a good enough job matchup-wise, I thought," Nurse stated on Pritchard. "And again, a lot of that stems and we didn't get, I think, the right guys on him, enough. A lot of that stems from not scoring and they're coming in transition, and sometimes the matchups get jumbled in transition, and we just, again, couldn't quite keep him in front of us. We, obviously, over helped off him on kickouts. He was getting kind of one pass away shots, and if he didn't, we were late on the closeouts. Again, we just weren't moving great or making great decisions on defense, and then we didn't guard him one-on-one at all."
The Sixers will look to stave off elimination on Tuesday when the series shifts back to Boston for Game 5.
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Sixers discuss poor defensive effort in Game 4 loss to Celtics