The Celtics began their 82 game season journey tonight in Philadelphia. The starting line up of Kemba Walker, Jaylen Brown, Gordon Hayward, Jayson Tatum, and Enes Kanter get ready for tip off in a hostile Wells Fargo Center against their division rivals.
The game started slow and even with plenty of missed shots on both sides. Enes Kanter posted the first points of the season with a tip in off an offensive rebound. There were some bright spots early on as Gordon Hayward looked to be fully functional hitting a few moving mid range shots, and playing good defense. Tatum showed some great moves, and Brown came in playing an intense brand of basketball. Jaylens performance didn’t show up on the scoreboard as he was the only starter scoring single digits.
The most disappointing part of this game was Kemba Walker’s debut ending with 12 points shooting less than 25% from the field. Shooting trouble wasn’t only with him as the team shot 36% from the field, and 26.9% from deep. The game despite the poor shooting was close until the last minutes of the third quarter as the 76ers went on a 9-3 run to create a little separation. In the fourth quarter Philadelphia took control finishing the game off with a 14 point victory.
Despite the loss Celtics fans can draw some positives from tonight. Hayward looked to be in prime form, and amassed 25 points. Jayson Tatum had a double double with 21pts and 10reb. Robert Williams despite only playing 10 minutes got a stat in every category except for turnovers.
Celtics have their first home game Friday at 7pmest against the defending NBA champions the Toronto Raptors. Stay tuned for more Celtics news.
