The Celtics threw away a golden opportunity to take a 1-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal against the 76ers on Monday, falling 119-115 in a bizarre game even though the Sixers were without Joel Embiid.
Here are the takeaways.
1. There will be a lot of talk about how the Celtics didn’t take the Sixers seriously without Embiid, or how the Celtics aren’t clutch down the stretch. Both things might be true, and indeed, Al Horford more or less admitted to the former.
“As much as you don’t want to say it wasn’t a factor, I think it was,” Horford said.