3 observations after McCain scores 20, young Sixers lose by a landslide in preseason

3 observations after McCain scores 20, young Sixers lose by a landslide in preseason originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Three down, three to go.

The Sixers hit the halfway point of their preseason schedule Saturday night with a 139-89 loss to the Celtics at TD Garden, dropping to 1-2 in exhibition play.

Jared McCain was the Sixers’ top producer, recording 20 points on 9-for-21 shooting, three assists, three rebounds and three steals.

The Sixers will end their three-game road trip Monday by facing the Hawks in Atlanta. Here are observations on their blowout defeat in Boston:

Celtics with massive edge over youthful Sixers 

Sixers head coach Nick Nurse had a reasonable, conservative approach on the second night of a preseason back-to-back, giving most of his veteran players the game off.

That meant Guerschon Yabusele started at center against his former team and opened the night next to Jeff Dowtin Jr., McCain, Ricky Council IV and KJ Martin.

The matchup wasn’t close to even. Celtics center Luke Kornet racked up 11 points in the first six minutes and Boston took a 40-18 lead on a Derrick White three-pointer just before the first-quarter buzzer. The Celtics had giant advantages almost everywhere you looked — size, experience, All-Star talent. In under 16 minutes, Boston’s advantage was 26 points.

It didn’t help that the Sixers missed several wide-open jumpers and began 0 for 9 from three-point range as a team. Two-way contract player Lester Quinones finally broke the ice late in the first quarter.

McCain’s game inside the arc

McCain snagged a strong defensive rebound in the first quarter and then sprinted ahead in search of a coast-to-coast layup. Jaylen Brown’s chase-down block attempt forced him to miss.

The 20-year-old shot just 2 for 8 from the floor in the first period, though both of his makes were impressive. He converted a crafty layup around Kornet and made a tricky left-handed scoop shot.

Especially on a team with three All-Stars in Tyrese Maxey, Paul George and Joel Embiid, McCain may very well do much of his scoring behind the three-point line early in his NBA career. Still, it appears…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/3-observations-mccain-scores-20-021028022.html

Author : NBC Sports Philadelphia

Publish date : 2024-10-13 02:10:28

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