Celtics Big Man Devours Sixers as Maxey, Drummond Struggle

The Sixers got trounced in the battle of the bigs while Tyrese Maxey shot worse than a concert tour date in a loss to the Boston Celtics on Sunday.

Here's what happened.

Andre Drummond, not even close to good enough

The first stint of the game told everyone what was in store for the Sixers throughout the night. While Drummond is obviously miscast as a starting center, there are basic details that he should be able to hold down as a veteran with stature in this league.

The defensive glass is where he's supposed to make his money. Instead, there were three instances in the first four minutes of the game in which Drummond was out of position on the defensive glass. I stopped counting the instances after his first five missed opportunities on the defensive glass.

It would've been one thing if Drummond was lifting into coverage to try to thwart someone from attacking downhill. But he wasn't stopping anyone. Jaylen Brown practically glided through Drummond for a dunk early in the game.

Drummond's futility was particularly jarring with Neemias Queta as his counterpart. The Celtics big man absolutely devoured Drummond. He beat Drummond to rebounds, both in hustle and positioning. He got around him at the rim and ran in transition. For the first 20-or-so minutes of the game, the difference between the two teams was simply the magnitude by which Queta was outplaying Drummond. Boston's 17 second-chance points in the first half defined the game.

Adem Bona offers a strong contrast

Drummond's rough showing only translating to a minus-2 on the box score is a good example of why single-game plus/minus is a misleading stat. The Sixers lost Bona's minutes by 10, but there was no question who played better. His stint in the first quarter was perhaps the best stretch of basketball he's played in his career.

We can rattle off the good pretty quickly—Bona pulled down an offensive rebound and scored the put-back, stayed down on a pump fake and helped earn the stop at the rim. Bona then earned a loose ball foul and later caught a pass in the dunker's spot and took one hard dribble in for a strong layup.

It was the type of effort that should've inspired Drummond, frankly. The Sixers' starting big man played 32 minutes and pulled down 12 rebounds. Queta, on the other hand, played 27 minutes and change but came away with 27 points and 17 rebounds. 10 of those came on the offensive glass. The box scores don't necessarily line up perfectly. I wouldn't say that Drummond lost every battle with Queta. But the eye test was abysmal. He got wiped off the court so blatantly that Bona should've been given more opportunity to challenge Drummond's role in this game. Only 16 minutes for Bona is not meritocratic.

Not even a concert tour for Maxey

I'll set this section up by offering that the Sixers' game plan on offense did not do much to actually help Maxey. Boston showed blitzes very high on the court early in the game because Drummond was the screener. Maxey was dealing with pressure on the ball and floor traffic basically as soon as he crossed halfcourt. The high ball screens didn't feel necessary for Maxey because he often ended up with Baylor Scheierman on him. That's a matchup Maxey and the Sixers should like for one-on-one opportunities.

At least if you get that matchup and Boston throws a trap, Maxey can see where the open man is as the extra defender approaches and get off the rock quickly. But if you were going to stick with high pick-and-roll and you saw the blitzing, why not use more small-small screening actions so that the the Celtics either can't throw two guys at Maxey or, if they do, the screener can punish it if No. 0 makes the pass? Just throwing Drummond into the action for a traditional pick-and-roll combination isn't necessarily helpful.

But reducing Maxey's game to being contingent upon his teammates' abilities to help him would be slightly dishonest on this night. Don't get me wrong, there were definitely shots from Maxey that came with as many as six hands in his face. There were times in which Philadelphia's only offense was having Maxey toss up off-balance prayers that went unanswered. But Maxey also had his fair share of shots that were rushed. He spent most of the night pressing, hunting the rim with no control as he tossed up brick after brick in the lane.

Maxey never settled in on his speeds, something he does very well when he feels he has total control of a game. He was going full speed the entire night, and it contributed to hard misses on his floater, a shot that he usually has down to a feathery touch. He also missed a number of layups off the back rim, yet another sign that he was going too fast. A really rough night of shot selection for Maxey.

What was the defensive strategy?

The Celtics do not want to get to the basket very often. They want to win the math battle by hoisting up as many 3s as possible. You know that. The entire league knows that. If there was ever a time to stay disciplined on the things that have gotten this team in trouble all season long, it was this game.

Yet, the Sixers just couldn't help themselves. They pinched on driving lanes and closed out hard all night long, conceding dribble penetration and kickout 3s. The Celtics didn't even shoot the 3 particularly well in this game. But they burned the Sixers, who were a step slow to get out. There is no way Sam Hauser should be wide open on the weak side of the floor because you over-helped on the driving lane. Nikola Vucevic shouldn't be able to walk into trail 3s because you're a couple steps below coverage.

Spare thoughts

There were a couple funny moments that highlighted the contrasts between these two teams. One, VJ Edgecombe caught the ball on the wing and had Drummond setting him a screen, but simply froze. It drained three seconds off the shot clock before Edgecombe moved. Meanwhile, Brown took a couple hard dribbles in the corner and attacked middle before snapping a beautiful pass out to Derrick White for a wing 3. One team needs an entire shot clock to get into offense, the other makes a decision and goes.

The other funny contrast was the Celtics taking 49 3s to only 42 2s. Yet, you have Quentin Grimes attacking from the corner, getting around his defender, only to pull back and take a long two. Joe Mazzulla might've called a timeout and Grimes do pushups on the baseline if he wore a green jersey.

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