DraftKings Post-Ups: C's Seek Full-Game Effort vs. Philly

Wednesday, November 25 - 76ers at Celtics

Pregame - Celtics Seek Full-Game Effort Against Philly

BOSTON – Coach Brad Stevens did not mention last night’s blowout loss in Atlanta when he took his Boston Celtics through their pregame walkthrough ahead of tonight’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers.

Boston is coming off its worst loss of the season, but rather than dwell on that 121-97 defeat to Hawks, its coach chose to focus on how the team can improve and move on.

“I think we need to defend with better urgency,” Stevens told the media prior to the 7:30 p.m. tip at TD Garden. “We need to play offense, with more purpose, more ball movement, and we need to play to a standard which we’ve set for closer to 48 minutes than we have.”

Stevens says the team has had many good stretches during games this season, but has yet to witness that full-game effort he is seeking.

During the last two contests, the C’s were not even close to reaching that level of play.

“I thought the last two games we didn’t play as connected and together as we have,” said Stevens, “and I think it’s best exemplified on defense by the fact that the other team is scoring with angles at the rim over and over and over.

“And then on offense, it’s just about if we’re turning the ball over and leading the breaks without sharing it, moving it, executing with great pace, then we’re just not playing as well as we need to play.”

Boston will have an opportunity to end its two-game skid tonight against a Philadelphia squad that has yet to crack the win column this season. The 0-15 76ers are last in the league in offense (90.4 points per game), though Stevens believes they are showing signs of improvement.

Philly held late fourth quarter leads during each of its last two games in Miami and Minnesota, respectively. They are a very youthful, inexperienced team, but Stevens says the Sixers play with a good attitude and have good coaching.

“They play exceptionally hard every night and in the last two games they had the games right where they wanted them in the fourth quarter,” said Stevens, whose squad beat Philadelphia, 112-95, on opening night.

He added, “They’re going to win games.”

Hopefully that winning doesn’t start tonight for the Sixers. The C’s are itching to break out of this recent funk and need this win just as badly as Philly does.

However, that will only come if they play with the right level of teamwork and effort.

“We’ve gotta play connected,” said Stevens. “If we’re not going to be connected, if we don’t play well, we’ll lose.

“If we play at the right pace, if we play at the right togetherness, if we play with the right stuff, then we’ll give ourselves a chance to win.”

- Taylor C. Snow

Starting Lineups

76ers: T.J. McConnell, Isaiah Canaan, Robert Covington, Nerlens Noel, Jahlil Okafor

Celtics: Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder, Amir Johnson, Jared Sullinger