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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto by Mitchell Leff\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – NOVEMBER 27: Head coach Nick Nurse of the Philadelphia 76ers reacts against the Houston Rockets in overtime at the Wells Fargo Center on November 27, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Rockets defeated the 76ers 122-115 in overtime. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and\/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Mitchell Leff\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> head coach Nick Nurse didn\u2019t sugarcoat things<\/a> while discussing his team\u2019s 123-91 blowout loss to the rival Boston Celtics in the first game of the first-round series between the two teams.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s mistakes, and the game was over well before the final buzzer mercifully sounded.<\/p>\n Nick Nurse States the Painfully Obvious After 76ers\u2019 Blowout Loss to Celtics<\/p>\n The Sixers now find themselves down 1-0 in the best-of-seven series.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot went wrong, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said of the loss. \u201cIt 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\u2019t do enough at either end to settle into the game.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought from the second quarter until the middle of the third, we finally \u2026 played pretty good basketball. But the minutes around that were absolutely unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n Moving forward, Nurse named several things that the Sixers need to do better if they\u2019re going to make this a series, including taking care of the ball and generating better looks from long distance.<\/p>\n \u201cWe certainly can\u2019t give up that much in transition,\u201d Nurse said, alluding to the fact that the Celtics outscored the Sixers 20-10 on fast break points. \u201cThat\u2019s a big one.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to take care of the ball better,\u201d he added. \u201cToo many turnovers that were live-ball and led to some of that transition. And I think we\u2019ve got to generate more threes against this team. We\u2019ve got to generate \u2018em, we\u2019ve got to take \u2018em, and obviously we\u2019ve got to make some, which I\u2019m sure we will.\u201d<\/p>\n Nick Nurse Will Have to Make Some Major Adjustments in Game 2<\/p>\n Basically, the Sixers need to do everything better moving forward. They didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019 specialty all season. While it may work against the Washington Wizards<\/a> in January, it\u2019s not going to work against battle-tested Boston in April.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s tendency to overhelp afford them ample opportunities. The Celtics connected on 16 triples in Game 1, compared to just four for the Sixers.<\/p>\n Nurse will have to make some major adjustments in Game 2 if the Sixers are going to have a chance. Let\u2019s see if he\u2019s capable of doing so.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMichael Kaskey-Blomain<\/a> Michael Kaskey-Blomain is an experienced sports media member covering the NBA and NFL for Heavy. He has been in the industry for well over a decade with previous stops including the Philadelphia Inquirer and CBS Sports. Michael also serves as a Philadelphia 76ers reporter and insider for ESPN 97.3 and an NBA and NFL contributor for The Sporting News. More about Michael Kaskey-Blomain<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Sixers\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo by Mitchell Leff\/Getty Images PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – NOVEMBER 27: Head coach Nick Nurse of the Philadelphia 76ers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":714427,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3766],"tags":[7,45,75,3798,46,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-714426","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-celtics","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-celtics","11":"tag-bostonceltics","12":"tag-celtics","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116435482319152896","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=714426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/714427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=714426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=714426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=714426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}