Philadelphia 76ers are who we thought they would be

On Christmas Day, the Philadelphia 76ers proved one thing: when whole, they can compete with anybody in the NBA, including the world-champion Boston Celtics, who they defeated 118-114 at TD Garden.

For only the sixth time this season, the 76ers had its “Big 3” of Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey on the court together, and they got a little help from Caleb Martin. 

Maxey led the way with 33 points and 12 assists, Embiid had 27 points and nine rebounds, and Martin added 15 of his 23 points in the second half; he was on fire as he made seven threes, which is a career-high.

The 76ers led by as many as 16 points in the first half and led by eight points at halftime, but in the third quarter, the Celtics came alive. They outscored the 76ers 24-16 in the third as Jaylen Brown scored 14 of his 23 points in the quarter, and the game was deadlocked at 82 at the end of three.

However, with Embiid and George on the bench, Philly went on a 21-6  run in the fourth to go back up by 15 points, and they held on late as Embiid made two free throws with 02.8 seconds to put the game away.

The Celtics (22-8), led by Jayson Tatum’s 33 points and 15 rebounds, did not have Jrue Holiday and lost Kristaps Porzingis for the second half. However, this is still a quality win for the 76ers.

Philadelphia(11-17) has now won eight of their last 11 games and are now one game behind the Pistons for the 10th spot in the East and 3.5 games behind the Heat for the sixth spot, so despite their disastrous start, which was mainly due to injuries, the 76ers are right there, and if they can continue to string some wins together, they will continue to move up the standings.

The 76ers continue their six-game road trip on Saturday night in Utah against the Jazz. After the Jazz, it’s the Blazers, Kings, Warriors, and Nets. Only one(Warriors) of the five teams they play on this trip is above .500, so Philly has an opportunity to keep the good vibes rolling. 

This is the team many thought they would see when the season began, and right now, the league is getting a glimpse of what the team could look like moving forward, which could be scary.