Philadelphia 76ers head coach Nick Nurse didn’t sugarcoat things while discussing his team’s 123-91 blowout loss to the rival Boston Celtics in the first game of the first-round series between the two teams.
The Sixers were outscored by 15 points in the first frame, and it was never a competitive contest after that. The Celtics were able to consistently capitalize on Philadelphia’s mistakes, and the game was over well before the final buzzer mercifully sounded.
Nick Nurse States the Painfully Obvious After 76ers’ Blowout Loss to Celtics
The Sixers now find themselves down 1-0 in the best-of-seven series.
“A lot went wrong, that’s for sure,” Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said of the loss. “It kind of started right in the beginning with not getting off to a great start offensively, getting into some foul trouble with both bigs. The first quarter was obviously moving past us pretty (quickly) and we just didn’t do enough at either end to settle into the game.
“I thought from the second quarter until the middle of the third, we finally … played pretty good basketball. But the minutes around that were absolutely unacceptable.”
Moving forward, Nurse named several things that the Sixers need to do better if they’re going to make this a series, including taking care of the ball and generating better looks from long distance.
“We certainly can’t give up that much in transition,” Nurse said, alluding to the fact that the Celtics outscored the Sixers 20-10 on fast break points. “That’s a big one.
“We’ve got to take care of the ball better,” he added. “Too many turnovers that were live-ball and led to some of that transition. And I think we’ve got to generate more threes against this team. We’ve got to generate ‘em, we’ve got to take ‘em, and obviously we’ve got to make some, which I’m sure we will.”
Nick Nurse Will Have to Make Some Major Adjustments in Game 2
Basically, the Sixers need to do everything better moving forward. They didn’t do anything especially well in Game 1, and that includes coaching. Nurse has been underwhelming on the sideline all season, as that trend continued into the postseason as he was thoroughly outcoached by Joe Mazzulla in the first game of the series.
There was absolutely no creativity on offense for Philadelphia, which has been an issue all year. There were no easy baskets created by solid schemes or play calls. Instead, there was a heavy dose of iso-centric, hero ball, which has been the Sixers’ specialty all season. While it may work against the Washington Wizards in January, it’s not going to work against battle-tested Boston in April.
Defensively, the Sixers allowed entirely too many clean attempts from long range, as they did all season long. The Celtics are a prolific 3-point shooting team, and Philadelphia’s tendency to overhelp afford them ample opportunities. The Celtics connected on 16 triples in Game 1, compared to just four for the Sixers.
Nurse will have to make some major adjustments in Game 2 if the Sixers are going to have a chance. Let’s see if he’s capable of doing so.
Nick Nurse Gets Brutally Honest About 76ers’ Game 1 Blowout Loss to Celtics