3 observations after Sixers earn impressive Christmas victory over Celtics

3 observations after Sixers earn impressive Christmas victory over Celtics originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

BOSTON — The Sixers’ season reached a crystal-clear high point on Christmas.

The team visited TD Garden on the holiday and came away with an impressive 118-114 win over the Celtics.

Tyrese Maxey had 33 points, 12 assists and three steals. Joel Embiid recorded 27 points and nine rebounds.

Caleb Martin scored his most points yet as a Sixer, notching 23 and making a career-high seven three-pointers.

Jayson Tatum tallied 32 points and 15 rebounds for the Celtics, who fell to 22-8.

The 11-17 Sixers were without four players in Jared McCain (left lateral meniscus surgery), KJ Martin (left foot stress reaction), Andre Drummond (left toe sprain) and Eric Gordon (oral surgery). Boston’s Jrue Holiday was out with a right shoulder injury.

Wednesday’s game was the Sixers’ first of a six-game road trip. They’ll next play Saturday night when they face the Jazz.

Here are observations on their Christmas victory in Boston:

Much-improved Christmas for Maxey 

After Al Horford knocked down two three-pointers in the opening two minutes, Embiid and Maxey each sunk long-range jumpers in response.

With KJ Martin out, Caleb Martin started his first game since Nov. 24 and guarded Jaylen Brown. Offensively, he and Kelly Oubre Jr. were both peripheral in the first quarter. The Sixers’ star trio of Maxey, Embiid and Paul George  combined to take 18 of the team’s first 19 field goals.

Maxey ran the show well, attacking the paint without hesitation and posting 12 points and four assists in the first period. He split through the Celtics’ defense early in the second quarter and slammed home a dunk that put the Sixers up 32-25.

At that stage, his outing was already far better than his 4-for-20 performance in the Sixers’ Christmas loss last year to the Heat.

Maxey also maintained his streak of recording at least one steal in every game he’s played this season. As a team, the Sixers earned an early advantage in the possession game; Boston committed the night’s first five turnovers and the Sixers had just one first-half giveaway.

Small-ball success

Without Drummond, Guerschon Yabusele was a clear choice as the Sixers’ backup center. However, head coach Nick Nurse opted to go especially small when Embiid sat.

The Sixers used a three-guard lineup late in the first and early in the second quarter, playing veteran guards Kyle Lowry and Reggie Jackson with Maxey. Overall, the Sixers’ lack of size in that lineup didn’t hurt them often. Boston kept firing away from three-point range against both zone and man-to-man defense and had zero made free throws until the 4:37 mark of the second quarter.

The Sixers were also scrappy on the defensive boards and excellent across the board offensively. Former Celtic Yabusele scored 10 first-half points and Martin added eight in the second quarter, draining two three-pointers and swooping in for a tip-in. George leaked out for an uncontested dunk that stretched the Sixers’ lead to 52-36.

Tatum helped the Celtics surge back late in the second quarter, but Embiid nailed several timely jumpers to hold Boston off. He celebrated demonstratively after sinking a three with 2.2 seconds left in the second period, gesturing toward the hostile crowd and appearing to dish a few words back.

Embiid-less excellence

The Celtics made an inevitable-feeling 7-0 run to begin the third quarter. Brown scored two hoops inside, Tatum hit a pull-up three and Martin missed a couple of decent catch-and-shoot looks.

George continued to misfire from deep on an 0-for-7 night from three-point range, and the Sixers’ offense grew significantly more isolation-heavy. Brown and the Celtics were relentless, too. Following a tightly guarded Embiid miss, Brown’s layup gave Boston an 80-76 lead.

Yabusele was impressive again to close the third quarter and the Sixers replicated their very strong Embiid-less play from the first half. Incredibly, the Sixers got outscored by 18 points with Embiid on the floor and still beat the defending champions.

Brown missed two free throws and Maxey then poured in seven straight points. In a flash, the Sixers had a double-digit lead. Nurse rolled with an eight-man rotation and didn’t need to deviate from that.

Before Wednesday, Martin’s season high for three-pointers in a game was three. He got a friendly holiday bank on his fifth and swished his sixth to extend the Sixers’ advantage to 103-88. Compared to a few weeks ago, he’s clearly much less limited by shoulder pain and much more balanced with his shooting mechanics.

The Sixers suddenly became shaky against Boston’s pressure, committing three turnovers in a row and seeing their lead dip to 108-105 on a fast-break Horford dunk.

They refocused in time to cement a victory, playing stellar team defense on multiple crucial possessions and making their late free throws. Embiid wrapped it up by calmly drilling two foul shots with 2.8 seconds left.