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Boston Celtics

The key question entering Friday night's matchup between the visiting Philadelphia 76ers and the Boston Celtics involves Philadelphia center Joel Embiid, who was scratched from Wednesday's loss to New Orleans because of an illness.

Will Embiid play against Boston? And if he does play, how effective will he be?

Embiid, who is officially listed as questionable due to illness, has appeared in 16 of Philadelphia's 18 games this season and is averaging 32.0 points, 11.3 rebounds and 6.6 assists per contest. The 76ers are 0-2 when he's not in the lineup.

Philadelphia never led in Wednesday's 124-114 loss to the Pelicans and trailed by as many as 16 points in the first quarter. Philadelphia's Tyrese Maxey scored 33 points in the loss.

"We cannot use (Embiid's absence) as an excuse, and we won't use it as an excuse," 76ers coach Nick Nurse said. "What put us in a big hole is we didn't go out and execute our defensive schemes the way we wanted to from the start of the game."

The 76ers gave up 39 points in the first quarter and trailed by 15 entering the second.

"I don't know if we won (from) there on out, but we lost the second quarter by five, it was probably close in the third and we, for sure, won the fourth," Maxey said. "You have to stick to the game plan, go out there and be aggressive from the tip."

Boston will be without center Kristaps Porizingis, who hasn't played since injuring his left calf Nov. 24 against Orlando. The Celtics said Porzingis would be re-evaluated in early December but have not offered a timetable for when he may return. Porzingis is averaging 18.9 points and 6.7 rebounds per contest in 15 games.

The Celtics, who have not lost in eight home games this season, are coming off Tuesday's 124-97 victory over the visiting Chicago Bulls that allowed them to reach the quarterfinals of the NBA's in-season tournament. Boston had to win that game by at least 23 points to have any chance of prevailing in a three-way tiebreaker with Orlando and Brooklyn.

"To be honest, it was a little weird (needing to win by so much), but the ultimate goal was to come out and get a win and that's what we did," Boston's Jaylen Brown said. "It's tough because that's just not how the game is supposed to be played. One, you've got to respect your opponents."

The Celtics made a season-high 21 3-pointers in the victory. Al Horford and Jrue Holiday each had four.

Holiday, who returned after missing two games with a sprained right ankle, collected 14 points, nine assists and seven rebounds.

"Any time you add Jrue back into the lineup, it's going to help your defense," Celtics point guard Derrick White said. "He does so many things out there that impact winning. It's nice to have him back."

Friday's game will be the rivals' third meeting this season. Embiid had 27 points and 10 rebounds when Philadelphia prevailed 106-103 at home on Nov. 8, and scored 20 points in Boston's 117-107 road victory on Nov. 15.

Boston was missing Porzingis and Jaylen Brown in the Nov. 15 win. Jayson Tatum scored a game-high 29 points in that victory.

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12/1 Game Preview: 76ers at Celtics

Taylor Snow

The final day of In-Season Tournament group play has the potential to wrap up in chaotic fashion. The only simple fact is that the Boston Celtics need to beat Chicago Tuesday night, or else they cannot earn a spot in the knockout stage.

For them to move on, the scenarios become a bit more complicated. But we’ll try to lay it out for you in as straightforward of a manner as possible.

At the moment, the Orlando Magic are in the Group C driver’s seat with a 3-1 record and a plus-22 point differential. They’re also the only team among the five that has wrapped up group play after blowing out the Celtics by 17 points Friday afternoon.

Boston (2-1) and Brooklyn (2-1) are the only other Group C teams that can surpass Orlando for the No. 1 spot. Both Toronto (1-2) and Chicago have been eliminated from knockout stage contention.

Not only do the Celtics have to win tonight, but they have to blow out Chicago by at least 23 points in order to surpass Orlando’s point differential. But there’s a catch: the C’s also need Brooklyn to beat Toronto tonight in order to win the group. That may sound odd since the Nets are also vying for a quarterfinal berth; however, if Brooklyn loses, then that leaves the Celtics tied with Orlando in the win/loss column, and the Magic would move on because it owns the first tiebreaker over the C’s, which is head-to-head record.

Since Brooklyn beat Orlando and lost to the Celtics, it would create a three-way tie in the head-to-head category should the Nets and Celtics both win tonight. The next tiebreaker is point differential, and that’s why the C’s must improve from zero to at least a plus-23 to win the group.

The Nets currently have a plus-8 differential, so if they and the Celtics both win, Boston can only win the group by beating Chicago by at least 23 points and by earning a win that is at least nine points greater than Brooklyn’s. For example, if the Celtics beat Chicago 123-100 and the Nets beat Toronto 114-100, then Boston moves on. If that Nets score were to be 115-100, then they would move on.

If there is a tie in point differential at the top of the group, the next tiebreaker would be total points scored. Orlando currently has 446, Brooklyn has 340, and Boston has 325.

There’s also a way in which the Celtics could win by fewer than 22 points and still make it into the quarterfinals via the lone East wildcard spot. There are two scenarios that would enable the Celtics to clinch a spot this way, and they are even more complex than the ones we listed above.

The first scenario would be a Celtics win along with losses from 2-1 teams Brooklyn, Cleveland, Miami, and New York, which would make Boston the only East non-group-winner with a 3-1 record.

Scenario No. 2 would require a Celtics win and point differential advantage over any other 3-1 teams from the East that do not finish first in their group; Brooklyn Cleveland, Miami, Milwaukee, and New York could all be vying for that spot.

Got all that? Good. Now let the chaos begin.

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In-Season Tournament Standings Ahead of Matchup with Chicago

The Celtics lost more than a game when they dropped a 113-96 decision to the Orlando Magic on Friday. Boston lost center Kristaps Porzingis for an unspecified period of time as well.

The Celtics announced Saturday that Porzingis won't play in Sunday night's home game against Atlanta because of a calf strain. Porzingis left Friday's loss midway through the third quarter with what the Celtics described as "left calf tightness" and he did not return to the game.

Following Friday's game, Porzingis told The Boston Globe that he planned to get an MRI on Saturday and he didn't think the injury was serious. It's unclear when Porzingis will return to the court, but he posted the following on his Instagram account Saturday afternoon: "Good news this morning. Be back very soon."

The Celtics acquired Porzingis as part of a three-team trade in June. He's played in 15 of Boston's 16 games this season and is averaging 18.9 points and 6.7 rebounds per contest.

The Celtics also announced that Jrue Holiday is questionable for Sunday's game due to a right ankle sprain he suffered in Wednesday's victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. Holiday did not play in Friday's loss to the Magic due to the injury.

In addition, Derrick White sustained an arm contusion in the first quarter of Friday's contest, but played through the injury.

"Obviously we're a better team when everybody's healthy, but there are going to be nights throughout the course of the season when guys are in and out of the lineup," Boston's Jayson Tatum said. "Can't use that as an excuse. Still got to get the job done."

This will be the second stop on a five-game road trip for Atlanta, which is monitoring its own injury issue. Forward Jalen Johnson left Saturday night's 136-108 victory over Washington in the second quarter with an injury to his left wrist and didn't return to the game.

Trae Young had 26 points and 10 assists for the Hawks, who have scored 435 points in their past three games.

Atlanta received 20 points from D'Andre Hunter and 15 from Bogdan Bogdanovic. Clint Capela contributed 12 points and 11 rebounds, Dejounte Murray added 11 points and 10 assists, and Saddiq Bey finished with 13 points and nine rebounds.

"I think we're the deepest team in the league across the board," Bey said. "Everybody who comes in contributes. Everybody works hard every day, so we're confident in everyone."

Orlando outscored Boston 65-40 in the final two quarters Friday and took control of the game with a 17-0 run in the third quarter. The Celtics shot 24.1 percent from 3-point range (7 of 29) and were outrebounded 48-31.

"You're definitely frustrated when you're not making shots, but at the end of the day it goes back to two things: transition (defense) and the offensive rebounds," Boson coach Joe Mazzulla said. "There were two stretches where they go on that 17-0 run in the middle of the third and then they went on a run in the middle of the second. Outside of those two bad stretches we played real good basketball, but it's not enough against a team like this."

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11/26 Game Preview: Hawks at Celtics

Marc D'Amico

It's as simple as this for the Boston Celtics: win this afternoon in Orlando, and you're into the quarterfinals of the NBA's inaugural In-Season Tournament as the winner of Group C.

The reason Boston can clinch its berth is because a victory over the Magic would leave three other Group C members - Orlando, Chicago and Toronto - all with at least two losses. The Celtics already own the head-to-head tie-breaker with the only other team that could hypothetically tie the Celtics in this scenario, Brooklyn, thanks to a 14-point win back on Nov. 10.

Now, things get a bit more questionable should the Celtics drop this game. Such a scenario would push Orlando to the top of Group C with a 3-1 record. However, the Magic will be done with their IST Group Play games at that point, while Boston and Brooklyn would have one remaining game to attempt to tie Orlando with a 3-1 record.

This is where point differential would come into play. If all three teams finish with a 3-1 record, point differential would decide the group's winner. So winning by a lot matters!

Now, if the Celtics lose today and only Boston and Orlando finish with a 3-1 record, Orlando would win the group based upon the head-to-head win. If the Celtics lose today and only Brooklyn and Orlando finish with a 3-1 record, Brooklyn would win the group based on its head-to-head win over the Magic.

If there is a 3-1 team that does not win the group, it would need to hope that its point differential is enough to clinch one of the two Wild Card spots in the East.

So, in the end, the Celtics know that if they win, they win Group C. If they lose, they're going to need either a three-way tie with Brooklyn and Orlando and have the best point differential of the three teams, or they'll need to win a Wild Card spot via point differential. That's the long and the short of it.

So buckle up for the most important IST game the Celtics or the Magic have ever played! And in the meantime, here are the current Group C standings:

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In-Season Tournament Standings Ahead of Matchup with Orlando

Giannis Antetokounmpo will have an opportunity to score at least 40 points for the third straight game when the Milwaukee Bucks visit the Boston Celtics in a matchup of division leaders Wednesday night.

Antetokounmpo tossed in 40 during Milwaukee's 132-125 victory over the visiting Dallas Mavericks on Saturday and followed up that performance by scoring 42 in a 142-129 win against the host Washington Wizards on Monday night.

Antetokounmpo, who is averaging 30.2 points per game this season, was 20 of 23 from the field against the Wizards. He also had 13 rebounds and eight assists.

"Unstoppable," Bucks coach Adrian Griffin said. "He literally is unstoppable. You couple him with the other special talent that we have and it really frees him up to do what he does best.

"You're going to have to send multiple bodies at him and that's going to leave some really good shooters open. ... Can't stop him."

Milwaukee has won five in a row since a 5-4 start.

"I wish it was easy," Antetokounmpo said. "I wish I could come in and score 42 every game, but it's hard. You've got to work extremely hard to get comfortable, to get in your rhythm, to get to your spot, to playmake for yourself, to playmake for your teammates. It's hard."

Damian Lillard added 22 points, Khris Middleton scored 18 and Bobby Portis came off the bench to contribute 17 points and eight rebounds.

"I'm ready to hoop against them (the Celtics)," Portis said. "I'm ready. It's going to be a fun game to play in. ... It's going to be competitive. Crowd is going to get involved. It's going to be loud. Definitely one of those (games) I can't wait to play in."

The Celtics are coming off a 121-118 overtime loss at Charlotte on Monday that ended the team's six-game winning streak. Boston surrendered an 18-point first-half lead.

Jayson Tatum scored 45 points for Boston -- including a career-high 31 points in the first half -- but missed a free throw with 5.2 seconds left that would have tied the game after getting fouled on a 3-point shot. He made the first two attempts before he missed the third.

"Was I surprised? Yeah, I was surprised," Tatum said "It felt good, just didn't go in.

"We have to regroup. We had six wins in a row and it's easy to get complacent and we paid for it (Monday)."

Tatum also had 13 rebounds and is averaging 28.2 points and 9.0 rebounds per game.

The Celtics received five 3-pointers and 21 points from Payton Pritchard but squandered an 11-point advantage with six minutes remaining in regulation. Pritchard was 5 of 8 from behind the arc.

"I think regardless you have to take something from each game," Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said. "And so this was our first overtime game, it was the first time where we blew a lead and we have to go back and understand why we did it.

"It comes from taking plays off and not finishing possessions."

Derrick White didn't play in Boston's loss to Charlotte for personal reasons and it's unclear whether he will be available against Milwaukee. White is averaging 13.6 points, 4.5 assists and 3.6 rebounds.

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11/22 Game Preview: Bucks at Celtics

The Boston Celtics have been among the best teams in the NBA for the first month of the season.

That's not the case for the Charlotte Hornets, who need something good to happen.

The teams with opposite types of streaks will meet Monday night in Charlotte, N.C., where the Celtics will conclude a four-game road stretch.

Kristaps Porzingis scored 26 points to lift Boston to its sixth straight victory on Sunday with a 102-100 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. Even that wasn't totally satisfying for the Celtics, however.

"We got lucky enough to win that game," Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said. "You can learn from losses. You can learn from wins. I didn't think we deserved to win the game because a lot of the stuff that we did."

So Mazzulla will have a motivational angle to use for the game in Charlotte. He said the Grizzlies played harder than the Celtics in Sunday night's game.

That's all part of the heightened expectations for the Celtics, who are led by Jayson Tatum's averages of 26.9 points and 8.7 rebounds a game.

"Guys in the locker room set a high standard for themselves," Mazzulla said.

The Hornets probably are in a totally different state of mind as they try to break a four-game losing streak. In home games, Charlotte has dropped six straight since winning the season opener.

Charlotte's offense has been regularly sparked by guard LaMelo Ball, who has reached the 30-point mark in five of the last seven games. He's averaging 24.4 points per game. With 25 or more points in each of those seven games, that's the second-longest Hornets streak in that category in franchise history.

Rookie Brandon Miller is coming off a career-high 29 points against the New York Knicks on Saturday night. Yet Miller is receiving hard lessons on the pro level about the necessity for focused defensive intensity.

"I think we kind of struggled maintaining our man in transition," Miller said. "I think that's just an effort thing with us, something we've got to clean up going into the game against Boston. Our focus is just individual defense. I think if we shut down a few players, we will have a great outcome in any game."

Miller's offensive skills have translated well in the early part of his NBA career.

"He does it the right way. He works in practice," Charlotte coach Steve Clifford said.

Clifford said the defense must be addressed across the roster with the team. The Hornets shot 49 percent from the field Saturday night against the Knicks, a rate that should be good enough to at least keep the team in tighter games.

The Hornets have lost by 14 or more points in three of the four games in their skid.

Ex-Celtics forward Gordon Hayward has scored a total of 12 points in 90 minutes across the last three games combined for the Hornets. He has shot 6-for-25 from the field in those games, missing all six of his 3-point attempts.

"That's something we have to work on," Clifford said of getting Hayward and P.J. Washington to pick up the pace offensively.

The Hornets were missing backup center Nick Richards, who was in the concussion protocol, on Saturday night.

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11/20 Game Preview: Celtics at Hornets

It's been a week since the Boston Celtics closed out their first-ever In-Season Tournament game with a 14-point win over the Brooklyn Nets at TD Garden. Now it's time to return to action and see how the rest of their Group Play games unfold.

The Celtics are in Toronto tonight for their second IST game. The contest will also mark Toronto's first IST game, during which it will debut its new IST court.

The IST outlook for Boston is quite simple at this point: it controls its own destiny. If Boston wins its final three IST games, it will advance to the tournament's quarterfinals and knockout stage. If it loses any of those games, the picture gets cloudy.

In detail, a win tonight would give the Celtics a 2-0 IST record and leave them as the only undefeated team in the group, with head-to-head victories over Brooklyn and Toronto as well as a strong point differential. For context, head-to-head record during Group Play games is the first tie-breaker, and point differential during Group Play games is the second tie-breaker.

At the other end of the spectrum, a loss at the hands of the Raptors would open up the door for any of the Group C teams to advance to the quarterfinals. In this scenario, four of the five teams will have already lost a game, and Toronto would instead control its own destiny with three of its Group Play games left to be played.

So, long story short: A win would put the C's in control of Group C, while a loss would give every team a pathway to advancing.

The good news for Boston is that it just matched up with the Raptors less than a week ago in a non-IST game, and it dominated the contest. The Celtics outscored Toronto by at least four points during all four quarters while taking home a 23-point win. So let's hope that happens again.

In the meantime, here are the current Group C standings:

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In-Season Tournament Standings Ahead of Matchup with Toronto

The Philadelphia 76ers won't have much time to dwell on their 132-126 loss Tuesday to the Indiana Pacers in the NBA in-season tournament.

A night after seeing their eight-game winning streak snap, the 76ers host the rivel Boston Celtics on Wednesday.

Joel Embiid hit all 17 free throws and finished with 39 points and 12 rebounds. De'Anthony Melton scored 30 points, Tyrese Maxey added 27 and Tobias Harris had 22.

But while the Sixers pulled within four twice in the final 30 seconds, it wasn't enough.

"We couldn't get away and build any kind of lead," Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said. "Sometimes the ball does not bounce your way."

Two nights earlier, Maxey scored a career-high 50 points against the Pacers. While Maxey didn't repeat the feat, he was still quite effective and continued to perform well since James Harden was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers. Though he shot 9 of 23 from the field, Maxey added five assists and four rebounds in the loss.

"He still played pretty good," Nurse said of Maxey. "You play 82, some nights you have it rolling, some night not, some nights in the middle."

"He pushes the pace, make or miss," Melton said of Maxey.

Harris appeared to strain his neck when he collided with Bruce Brown with 10:40 remaining in the fourth quarter. Following a quick trip to the locker room, Harris returned. His status is unclear for the game against the Celtics.

Embiid was listed as questionable with left hip soreness but put together another impressive performance. It's also unknown if Embiid will be available in the back-to-back scenario.

The Celtics, meanwhile, will be looking for their fourth consecutive victory.

Boston handily defeated the New York Knicks 114-98 on Monday.

Jayson Tatum (35 points), Jaylen Brown (22), and Kristaps Porzingis (21) each scored at least 20 for the second consecutive game.

But Porzingis is listed as questionable for the game against the Sixers with a right knee contusion.

Tatum missed seven of his first eight 3-pointers but rallied to shoot 13 of 23 overall, scoring 17 points in the fourth quarter.

"I've played enough games, had enough tough shooting nights," Tatum said. "All really, really good scorers know it just takes one to change your momentum, change how you feel about yourself shooting the ball. And once you see one go in, you just feel a lot better about yourself."

The Celtics struggled as a team offensively before surging in the fourth.

"If I could come up with another shot besides a three or a layup, I'll do it," Boston head coach Joe Mazzulla said. "You can't kick it in. I mean, we couldn't throw it in the ocean."

After a difficult matchup against a longtime rival, the schedule doesn't get any easier with a clash against another bitter rival in the Sixers.

"I love games like this, because it's going to reveal who we are, what we've been doing and where we need to get better," Mazzulla said. "You're not playing as well as you can be, and you're only down one. You've got to be thankful for that, because it could be a lot worse. And I thought our guys just stuck with it, with the right mindset."