The Celtics found their ‘fight’ in their road win over the 76ers.

 

Following the Celtics’ 117-107 victory over the 76ers, Abby Chin sits down with Al Horford for an exclusive 1-on-1 interview. Horford finished the game against his previous team with 14 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 blocks.

Al Horford had a great game on both sides of the court in the Boston Celtics’ 117-107 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night.

Horford had a season-high 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting, eight rebounds, five blocks, and three assists in his third start of the season. Horford came up when the team needed him the most, with Jaylen Brown (non-COVID-related illness) and Kristaps Porzingis (right knee injury) both out.

Horford talked to NBC Sports. Abby Chin of Boston celebrates a well-deserved road victory.

“[We found our] fight,” Horford said of the C’s performance despite missing two starters. “On our team, the next man steps up and we do what needs to be done.” We obviously missed Jaylen [Brown] and KP [Porzingis] tonight, but we had to figure something out.”

Horford did precisely that against his former squad, moving up from sixth man to starter. His defensive presence down the stretch helped Boston keep its advantage late in the game, as Horford made several key blocks in the fourth quarter. With Sam Hauser and Jrue Holiday struggling from long range, Horford was able to take up the slack, shooting an exceedingly effective 4-of-8.

Horford also performed admirably after being assigned the difficult assignment of covering former MVP Joel Embiid, reducing the 7-foot big man to a season-low 20 points.

“It’s entertaining. Guarding Embiid is “a lot of fun,” Horford added. “It’s competitive, we are out there playing hard and trying to do our best.”

Horford and the Celtics did an excellent job of game planning around Embiid, holding him without a block for the first time since Philadelphia’s season opener, by shooting from long and keeping the ball out of his reach. The squad attempted 50 three-point shots, six more than its season average, and converted on 36 percent of them.

“We’re just getting more comfortable with one another,” Horford said of the bench unit’s progress. “Continuing to play and continuing to trust what we are doing as a group.”

With Horford and Hauser starting, head coach Joe Mazzulla looked to the bench for support, bringing in Payton Pritchard, Luke Kornet, Svi Mykhailiuk, and Dalano Banton. They all played significant minutes and shot a combined 52.9 percent from the field. Guard Banton got five rebounds in his eight minutes of action.

Tatum clutched up late in the fourth quarter to shoot a dagger three-pointer that put the game out of reach. Horford found satisfaction in watching Sixers fans flee after spending a season in Philadelphia, when he was terribly undervalued.

“It’s always great, just getting wins,” the 17-year veteran remarked with a smile. “Playing here in a hostile place, it feels good.”

Now in sole possession of first place in the Eastern Conference, the Celtics will attempt to increase their lead this Friday when they travel to Toronto to face the 5-6 Toronto Raptors.

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A Beginner’s Guide to the In-Season Tournament: It began two weeks ago but just now for the Toronto Raptors.

The In-Season Tournament has arrived! Given that the competition began more than two weeks ago, you’d think everyone would be familiar with the format and calculating playoff odds by now. As the Toronto Raptors prepare to play the Boston Celtics in Scotiabank Arena on Friday, the answer to the above phrase is a resounding NO!

I’ve assembled everything you need to know to be the IST expert in your group to help you handle the questions you’ll undoubtedly be asked on Friday. Let’s start with the fundamentals.

Based on their 2022-23 regular season records, all 30 teams were randomly divided into six groups of five, three in each conference. Pot 1 has three of the conference’s top records. Pot 2 had the fourth, fifth, and sixth best records in the league. Pots 3–5 followed suit in descending record order. This was done to avoid the NBA’s Bostons and Milwaukees from being paired together, allowing the Celtics to harass the Raptors.

The Raptors were assigned to East Group C, along with Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, and Orlando.

Each squad will play each other team in their group twice – twice at home and twice on the road. While these games obviously have tournament importance, they also count towards regular season records. Because they compete in the same division, the Raptors normally face the Celtics four times during the regular season. The playoff game between Toronto and Boston will also serve as one of the two teams’ four regular-season meetings.

This provides an answer to the topic of whether or not teams play extra games. They are not. Toronto’s games against Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, and Orlando were already scheduled. If there had been no tournament, Friday’s game between the Celtics and Raptors would have taken place nonetheless — only without the added significance of being a tournament game.

For single-elimination games, the top team from each group, plus two wild cards (the best second-place teams), goes to the knockout stage (quarterfinals). The winners of the quarterfinals play off against each other, while the losers are paired together for their final tournament games.

The 11 clubs that did not advance to the knockout phase will also play two additional games. Ten of the eleven teams will be matched up and play within their respective conferences, while the 11th club (or “bottom-finishing” as NBA.com refers to it) from each conference will play a cross-conference game.

The championship game is the only one that does not count toward the regular season record (nor do any individual/team stats).

So far, three tournament days have passed (November 3, 10, and 14), with 26 of the 60 round robin games completed. The Raptors are the only team that has yet to compete in a tournament game. In reality, four teams (Nets, Grizzlies, Mavericks, and Clippers) have already played 75% of their tournament games, including two that are mathematically eliminated from reaching the knockout round (Grizzlies and Clippers).

The Celtics (1-0) have already defeated the Nets (2-1), who have already defeated the Bulls (0-1) and Magic (0-1).

Aside from bragging rights as the first ever NBA Cup* winner, each player on the winning team earns $500,000. Each team that advances to the quarterfinals will get prize money: the runners-up will receive $200,000, the semi-finalists will receive $100,000, and the quarterfinalists will receive $50,000 per player.

Who benefits from this, as I’ll explain in the following section? The prize money isn’t much of an incentive for the great players who will spend the most of the tournament time on the field. It’s more of an incentive for the end-of-the-bench players……who won’t see the field.

I don’t dislike the tournament’s concept, but some of its implementation has been problematic. Remember when the champion of the All-Star game’s conference got home court advantage in the NBA Finals? That incentive compelled players to play defense in the fourth quarter!

Why not guarantee a playoff spot to the winning team? who’s a terrific safeguard for teams who may suffer late-season injuries. Last season, the Portland Trailblazers had the best record in the West at this point. What if they rode that good start to an NBA Cup title (and a guaranteed postseason berth)? Scoot Henderson is unlikely to end up in Portland. Perhaps Damian Lillard will stay. Perhaps the Raptors did not get annihilated by Lillard and the Bucks last night. See? Isn’t that far more appealing than money?