Last-Minute News, Rumors, Reports before Boston Celtics vs Philadelphia 76ers Game

It's finally here, folks, the day that we Celtics fans have all been waiting for since this trade occurred over the summer, the day where, for the first time ever, we will see Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown square off in different uniforms. Jalen Brown will be rocking that Philly uniform while Jason Tatum will still be in Celtics green. But folks, I'm your host, Kellen Frangione with Celtics Digest, and today we are going We're going to be breaking down all of the latest news, rumors. Updates, et cetera, before this game between the Celtics and the Sixers tips off in Philadelphia at 8 p.m. Eastern time tonight. It's going to be a good one. It's going to be very, very exciting. The two top teams in the East right now, Philly is above us. We're right there in that two spot. Both teams playing extremely, extremely good basketball recently. Paul George has been absolutely flying for the Celtics since we have acquired him. Jalen Brown has been doing his thing as well for Philly. But Jalen Brown continues to make comments. He continues to make comments. Now, they're not as bad as the lamb chops and gravy whole thing, whatever, but he still just seems to be dwelling on things a little bit while Tatum is very much of the stance of simply shutting it down, not really acknowledging it anymore. it's another game etc but before we get any further into today's video and what is going on folks i do want to tell you about today's sponsor folks today's sponsor is Kalshi because on Kalshi you're trading directly against other users and not the house like traditional sports books you're buying yes or no contracts on the outcomes of events across sports politics or even the weather. For example, you could do the Boston Celtics to be Eastern Conference champions where a placement of $25 pays out nearly $182, folks. 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So now there's nothing to talk about after you were making a bunch of comments, including saying lamb chops and gravy, saying Tatum has a PR team, etc. But now there's nothing to talk about. Okay, whatever. Check the ball up, Jalen Brown. May the best team, may the best man do the best tonight. We obviously know the fallout of this trade has not been great. There's been some reports saying the following, like, when the Celtics trade for Giannis failed, Jalen Brown told them he was willing to remain in Boston, but the team informed him he would be dealt anyways. I'm not surprised by that. It seems like once he knew his name was out there, The Celtics were dead set on it. They knew that they were only going to pay Jason Tatum. Jalen Brown was not going to be able to stick around, unfortunately. Once Jalen Brown was informed the Celtics were shopping him, he submitted a list of his preferred destinations and teams he preferred not to play for. The Philadelphia 76ers were not on either of those lists. So originally, he did not say that he wanted to play in Philly, but he also didn't say, don't send me to Philly. That kind of makes sense considering the fact that Philly came back and beat us in the first round of the playoffs this previous season, but etc. Moving forward. Paul George on Jason Tatum's emotions entering tonight. He says he's locked in. That's exactly what we want to hear from Jason Tatum. This is a big game. It's probably the biggest game of our season so far. I mean, it's the two top teams in the East. As I said, it's Jalen Brown making his debut against the Celtics, obviously the team that he has spent his entire career with thus far. So it's going to be something, folks. It's going to be very, very interesting. Derek White has personally been rejecting. The feud talks. He said that he didn't feel any tension. Those are two guys that wanted to win, two guys that are really talented that can do a lot of different things and competed at that level together. I didn't think there were any problems, no beef. Jalen Brown, let me know. Does Derek White have a PR team also? Maybe, because that's a pretty good answer. But. You know, I would have to agree. I feel like when the guys were together in Boston, I don't feel like there was much tension. And I feel like if there was any, it's probably coming from Jalen Brown in his camp. And I do understand he was saying he wanted to be respected more, et cetera. I get that after he led us to the two seed last season because he did, that was really a lot of credit to him. But regardless, how has Jalen Brown been playing so far for Philly? Well, his recent form shows he's been averaging 24 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists on 51% from the field in his past five games. In the first five, he had pretty similar stats. But most of them have actually improved over the course of the last five games. So Jalen Brown seems to be in form at a good time before this big game. Just a reminder on Jalen Brown's financials and his contract. Just to remind you guys part of why he is no longer a Boston Celtic. It's really because a lot of these numbers right here on the screen. This year he's making $57.7 million. Next year, $61.7 million. Year after that, $65.6 million for Jalen Brown. And he is a great player, but folks, that is a lot of money. That's a lot of money. Also, ignore the fact that it says Javelin Brown. I don't know. That's a little bit of a glitch there in our graphic. But moving forward, Jason Tatum has also spoken out a little bit, but he continues to be whatever, PR trained, as Jalen Brown might say. But he just says, it's another game on the schedule. It's the Celtics versus the Sixers. Simple as that. He's not wrong. As Jalen Brown said, check ball up. Continuing forward, Tatum has also been commenting on his health recently. He said, hell no, I wish. I'm getting there. I don't feel too far. I've still only played less than 40 games since I've been back. Still in the rehab phase in terms of return to play. I've still got a little ways to go to get back to being the best I've ever felt. We're going to get there, though. So Jason Tatum already has been looking pretty good this season. Still feels like he is not at absolute 100% peak health, peak performance. Reminder of Jason Tatum and his little career versus Philly. Pretty, pretty good numbers versus Philly in these eight games. 23.8 points, 10.2 rebounds, 6.6 assists on 48.9% from the field. You can see some of the numbers there. You see the points. He's at 35. He's at 30. He's at 25. Jason Tatum typically does quite well against the Philadelphia 76ers. You can see his numbers on the season go down slightly, at least in the points category. But folks, Jason Tatum, I expect him to give us his absolute best tonight. And hopefully he can really live up to what we're expecting from him. Joe Mazzulla, a report came out that during practice he would supposedly intentionally make comments to tick off Jalen Brown and Tatum to force them to confront uncomfortable topics and tensions. Now, I'm not entirely sure if this is true. Let's take that with a grain of salt. But I also don't think that's going to be too out of the ordinary for Joe Mazzulla and his coaching style. We know he kind of likes to push the envelope a little bit and create some, you know, maybe untraditional things compared to other coaches. But who knows, maybe this did contribute to the fallout of the relationship in the end. But shifting to how the Sixers have looked, Tyrese Maxey is really giving Philly their offensive engine. He is really their lead guy. And all the other guys on the Sixers have pretty much acknowledged that, even Jalen Brown himself. I mean, he's having a monster season. Just about 27 points per game, five and a half assists on 60% true shooting. He's also averaging 1.4 steals per game, 34% from three. Tyrese Maxey looking like an absolute all-star. He is a great player, and it's always tough playing against him. Also. The GOAT himself, some of you guys may disagree. Let me know. MJ, Bron, who is it? But LeBron having himself a pretty good season, considering this man is essentially geriatric. 15.6 points per game, seven rebounds, just about seven assists. Now his efficiency numbers are certainly down, but his defending has also still been very good, 1.4 steals per game. I believe he's allowing one of the lowest opponent field goal percentages in the league right now. So LeBron. Still on his game, still expected to play in this game tonight. Joel Embiid has also still been solid for the Sixers in the games that he has played. Just about 18 points per game, just about 10 rebounds, four assists on 49% true shooting, 90% from the charity stripe. It's a pretty decent season for Joel Embiid so far. I never get too worried about him anymore. Also, look at his efficiency numbers. They are not good at all, including a little 10% from three-point range. So don't guard Joel Embiid, folks, if he's out there on the arc. It's not going in. Continuing on, though, how have the Sixers also been as a team? Well, we know they're 9-2. They're the only team above the Celtics right now. They rank 23rd in field goal percentage, 23rd in threes made, and 26th in offensive rebounds. So not good numbers right there, but they are second with the fewest turnovers and 10th in steals in the league. They have a plus .5 point margin a game. Their numbers scored and numbers allowed are quite similar. They're 3-1 versus winners and 6-1 versus losers. One of their losses did come recently. But they're still on a pretty good track right now. I mean, we knew Philly with this retooled team was going to be good. The injury report for this game is as follows. It seems the Sixers' only injuries come to Adem Bona, Ariel Hukporti, and Dominic Barlow. So nothing too impactful. While the Celtics basically have no injuries to report, both of these guys are just in the G League right now, not actually with the real Celtics team. The same goes for Sanak. Same goes for Dylan Mitchell. They won't appear in this game. They're in the G League, but it's a pretty clean slate. It's going to be a big game with most of the guys good to go. Now, the Celtics really need to win the matchup and not the reunion. Just don't think about it too much. We know the Celtics have been having a good season so far, playing good basketball. Now, we haven't played the toughest opponents. Honestly, Philly is going to be the toughest game so far, I think, besides Houston. Houston did beat us. They were good. You can see it. Is our record maybe a little bit fraudulent? Partially because we haven't played great teams. We're 7-0 versus losers, but only 1-2 versus winners. Now, we're second in threes made, of course. No surprises there. This is a Joe Mazzulla system. Fifth in three-point percentage. Fifth in offensive rebounds, partially thanks to Mitchell Robinson. But we're 21st in field goal percentage and 21st in blocks. We have a point margin of plus 13 per game, which is very, very good. Much better than the Sixers' margins in that area. But this is a real test. Philly is a great team. As we know, they are above us at the moment. If we take a look at the Eastern Conference standings, you can see we are eight and two. They are nine and two. We're on a three-game win streak. They're only on a one-game win streak because they lost the game right before their past one. But can Boston keep up the streak tonight? Can we make it four straight wins now since that loss at Houston, which was a very bad game? Definitely the poorest performance that we've seen from them. I mean, even the win against the Nets was not good, where Tatum had to hit the overtime game winner. That game should have been a blowout. I mean, it's the Brooklyn Nets. But you know, teams get hot. It's the NBA, et cetera. So folks, thank you very much for watching this last minute update video. And I want you guys to let me know in the comments right now what happens tonight. I need to see the comment section absolutely spammed with option A. Do not put option B in my comments. But I'm giving you the choice just in case. Just in case you feel like hating for some reason. But put a, folks. The new look Celtics, I expect them to play their best tonight. I expect Joe Mazzulla to have a pretty good game plan. We will see. If it's a night where the Celtics get cold from behind the arc, that always spells trouble for us. And the Sixers are pretty good on defense. It could very well happen. Nevertheless, Jalen Brown, as he said, as much as I don't like this guy right now, He did say what you need to say at this point. Check the ball up. It's time to play basketball, and we are going to see what happens. Thank you very much for watching this video, folks. I am your host, Kellen Frangione, and I'll see you all in the next video. Thank you.