The Boston Celtics avoided going 0-4 vs. the Philadelphia 76ers this season as they dominated Saturday night, 116-95.
Jaylen Brown (32 points) and Jayson Tatum (25) led the way to assure the C's would finally earn a much-needed victory over their Eastern Conference rival.
Here are three instant overreactions from the win, which is the Celtics' third straight and brings them to 33-15 on the season:
1. Celtics have finally figured out the Sixers.
Verdict: Overreaction
This was an incredibly important win for the Celtics, who looked helpless vs. Philadelphia in their three previous meetings. With no Kemba Walker and Enes Kanter, Saturday night's performance was especially impressive.
As dominant as they looked, we can't expect this to be what we'll see in a few months if these two teams face off in the Eastern Conference playoffs. I still see size being an issue for the Celtics in a seven-game series, and Boston's three losses to Philly still are glaring.
This was a statement win, no doubt, but let's not get fooled into thinking it's a harbinger of what's to come in the postseason.
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2. Joel Embiid has no answers for the Celtics.
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Verdict: Overreaction
Well, Embiid certainly didn't have any answers in this one. The 76ers' star big man was a putrid 1-for-11 from the field (11 points) and tallied a mere five rebounds.
But when the Sixers beat the C's back in December, Embiid dropped 38 points while bringing down 13 boards. This was just an off game, and he'll almost certainly be a serious problem in a playoff series.
Give the Celtics defense credit, though, they had the perfect formula for stopping him for this one night.
3. This was one of the C's best defensive performances this season.
Verdict: Not an overreaction
Speaking of great Celtics defense, this may have been the unit's most impressive performance all season long. Holding Embiid to such an uncharacteristic stat line is one thing, but the Celtics D swarmed pretty much every Sixers player not named Ben Simmons (23 points).
Philadelphia struggled mightily from behind the 3-point line, hitting only seven of their 33 attempts. Defending the 3-ball has been an issue for the C's in plenty of games this season, so that made Saturday night's outing even more encouraging.
They'll look to carry the momentum into Monday's game vs. the Atlanta Hawks.
Don't miss NBC Sports Boston's coverage of Celtics-Hawks, which begins Monday at 6:30 p.m. with Celtics Pregame Live followed by tip-off at 7:30 p.m. You can also stream the game on the MyTeams App.
