Celtics vs 76ers Preview: Can Mazzulla and Mitchell Robinson Stop Embiid and the JB Revenge Game?

Celtic Chalk Talk - 11/9/2026 === Steve: [00:00:00] Welcome to another week of Celtic Chalk Talk. My name's Steve Purciello, Celtic fan for life. Go way back, go back to the Bill Russell days. Seen a lot of Celtic basketball and enjoyed most of it. Before I begin, I wanna just talk a little bit about the podcast network that we're on, thePeachBasket. Peach Basket Network is a bunch of people who have no affiliation with getting paid for doing this or any of that. We are people that are just basketball fans. We like the game of basketball. We root for different teams, and with the rooting comes some great articles and also some tremendous podcasts. If in any way you like this one or are intrigued by this one, try to the network and see what else you might like. There's some great stuff on there, and there's some great creators that do it. Please, if you have a chance, just take a look and see [00:01:00] what we have to offer. Now, as for the Celtics, it was an interesting week. They went three and one and the Houston game we'll get to that, but the, the Houston game was a loss, and it was the-- not a problem. It was a second night of a back-to-back. So let me start with that Houston game. It was the second night of a back-to-back. The Celtics came out and really had very little energy in the game. They really didn't look like they were ready to play. Maybe tired. I don't quite know. Paul George did not suit up. That's a loss. Paul George has established himself, and it's really interesting. If you listen to Bill Simmons at all, Bill Simmons does a thing every year about the worst contracts. Last year, Paul George was one of the worst contracts in the league. Right now I don't think he is. 55 million is a large amount of pay to pay, but he is such a good player. He didn't play in that game, and naturally that was a, a problem for the Celtics. But they just weren't nothing. They really showed nothing in that game. Tatum [00:02:00] had 19 six rebounds, nine assists. Normal game, little low on the points. Queta played well, 16 and 6, but they were just not that good. Garza played well and so did Scheierman. But, I think back to old days in the NBA when guys played four games in five nights and just went out and played and finished a year playing 80 games out of 82 and only really sat if they had a, an injury, not for rest. And I'm just amazed and I know these athletes are better, but I'm amazed at the players of today just they don't have it on a back-to-back and it's really something that's remarkable to me as I've watched a lot of the games over the years. But the second game of the week was the Celtics and the Bucs. Now, fascinating game. First half, Boston just blew them away and the Bucs didn't belong, look like they belonged. Something happened at halftime I don't quite know well, but the Bucks played tremendous basketball in the second half. [00:03:00] They cut the 21-point halftime lead. Milwaukee was leading for a while in the game. Tyler Herro just took over in the third. He scored 18, and he was just on fire. Tyler Herro is a great scorer who doesn't do a lot of other things. Reminds me, I think he's better, but of a young Ja- Zach Mo- Zach LaVine, but he can score. When he gets on a roll, he's tough. If he defended better, he'd be recognized as one of the, the stars of the league. He doesn't. And that was the problem. Tatum didn't play in this game, which made it a problem, especially when Milwaukee came back in the third and f- into the fourth quarter. And that was the big thing. Down the stretch with a tie game, White had seven big points. If you remember, there was a little scrum under the basket, and Scheierman came up with the ball, and White, who always does the right thing at the right time, made the cut down the middle, got the pass, and hit the basket, and that put Boston ahead by... And they didn't lose that. White scored seven big [00:04:00] points in that stretch. He had a, and that three-point play was the biggie that got Boston away from it. It was a loose ball rebound type thing, and it was just a, a great play. Sure, Paul George was getting the ability to hit big shots down the stretch. Hit a big three in that last few minutes to put the game away. George had 25, White had 24, and that's important because his offense has been lacking, and that was a game where he came alive when the Celtics needed it. And of course, the results showed it. There, there was good basketball from e- everywhere. Scheierman was just-- he's a really good rebounder for a guard. He had nine and 11 rebounds. Hauser had 11. Scheierman's turning into a good player. You just wish he would get more time so he can see. Queta, nine points, 12 rebounds. It was a team effort, but down the stretch, Derrick White was just tremendous. Moving along, and this is where Boston has not been playing good teams, but [00:05:00] they're doing the right thing. They're not getting beat by these teams, and that's what you want to see. They next played Charlotte Friday night. Charlotte is... I feel for them 'cause they had a great year last year, traded LaMelo, but they've hit with injuries. In that game, Brandon Miller went down. They are just, th- they're just not the team they should be. Kon Knueppel is out for another month so they're struggling. Boston won by a ridiculous 119 to 80 and just blew 'em out. They're just terrible. Tatum had 34, eight and nine, eight rebounds, nine assists, and this was not in a full game. He played only 30 minutes. Would've had a triple-double. When Queta plays in Carolina, he always lights it up, and he was lit up and lighting up the threes in that game. White had 18 in 25 minutes. He shot 54%, and White's three is starting to come back again. Remember last year, he didn't shoot it well, but slowly he's making [00:06:00] inroads towards that. Boston shot 54% in the game. Milwa- not Milwaukee, but the Hornets were 22% at three and 29% from the field and they had some wide open shots. Boston did defend real well, but they had open shots where if they were shooting and playing well, they would've made 'em. Coby White, who usually plays well against the Celtics, struggled, and that told me right away that they were in trouble 'cause he usually always lights up Boston with some big baskets. Last night the Celtics went out and beat the Milwaukee Bucks fairly easy, but there's a story to it. They won the game 117 to 97. That's a 20-point win. The first couple minutes of the game, very interesting, Milwaukee was on fire, 20 to six lead. Now, what was a couple interesting things, Mazzulla, as he does, left them out there and didn't call a timeout during this stretch. So it's 20 to six, Boston comes back. I believe [00:07:00] by the end of the first quarter, they were down by two two or three and they had come back to a point, and Milwaukee only scored about eight points in the last seven, eight minutes. So Boston defend, and there were stretches in that where their defense was excellent, forcing 24 second violations and other things. They were just outstanding for a while. They took the lead by halftime. Think about this, down 20 to six, they took a lead, 58 f- 45. That means that Boston outscored them 52 to 25 in that stretch after the opening stretch of the game, which was incredible. Paul George again was good, and Tatum. Tatum had 21 four and s- six four rebounds, six assists. George had 27. He was on fire, and he was hitting some big threes that opened the lead up. He was 11 for 18 from the field, but five of 10 from three. Think back to last year when [00:08:00] Boston got beat in the playoffs, how great a shooter he was with the three, and he was a weapon for Philly in that series. The other good thing out of this game is, was Mitchell Robinson. Mitchell Robinson, when he came in the first quarter when Boston's down, he was like a spark. He just did everything and he was rebounding. People have been thinking like offensive rebounding particularly, but he-- people have been thinking that, "You know what? Maybe the, it's damaged goods or there's something wrong," but he wasn't that night, and maybe he's starting to figure out how to fit in with the Celtics, and with that, that means that he's just gonna help them and what we need. Now, he was 12.7 rebounds, couple alley-oops, beautiful tip-in just did some nice things on the court that really looked good, and him and Queta become a, a good combination. Now, I wanna talk about a couple things. First of all, Mitchell Robinson and how he fits into this. We're playing Philadelphia tomorrow [00:09:00] night Last year, if you remember the playoffs, the whole thing changed in what was game five when Philly came out at halftime down and decided to go into Embiid. And I have talked numerous times that they need some more bulk. Kate is good, but not against a stronger center. He struggled. He got in foul trouble. They have Mitchell Robinson now. He's starting to play good basketball. He is an important cog in tomorrow night's game and moving forward because he's physical and he's big, and that could cause problems for some of the Philadelphia team. Now, what I also want to just mention, how good is this Boston Celtic team? That's a great question. I've thought about it. I look at the personnel, and obviously I think Philadelphia has better personnel. However, I'm gonna say something. Joe Mazzulla is an excellent coach. Joe Mazzulla, not only does the team play the right way, but he gets guys to give to the good of the team.[00:10:00] Now, think about this. You're a young player, Hugo, Scheierman. You're thinking about your next contract, so sometimes you wanna-- might end up a little bit selfish. That doesn't happen with Boston. These guys are part of the team. Watch during the game and see when somebody does something. Last night I believe Scheierman had a dunk, and the bench was going wild for him 'cause he dunked it. This tells you how cohesive and how close this team is, and that is a credit to Mazzulla. Mazzulla is a very good coach. We don't wanna lose him. Players love playing for him. They love him and they do what he asks, which is the most important thing. He hasn't lost a player, and that's important. Mazzulla is hopefully the equalizer because of the lack-- or not the lack of talent. Think about Philadelphia with Maxey and JB and Embiid, Edgecombe, and LeBron. That's a lot [00:11:00] of talent there. Boston can compete with that. We're gonna find out something. Now, they're playing in Philly. Very difficult to win on the visiting team's court, especially when it's a good team. We're gonna find out so much tomorrow night, and then we will begin to be able to determine if Boston is a good team, and I think they are a good team, okay? A great team, and that will... a lot of it will tell tomorrow. The other part of that is the JB and JT feud, I don't know what it is, and that, that's a distraction that the media will play up, but the concern is how the Celtics come through in a big game like this. It's early, but it'll tell us something. That's it for this week. Hang in there and keep rooting for those Celtics, and see you next week. Take care.