Celtics forward Jayson Tatum driving on Sixers’ Joel Embiid. Image- Getty
Opening night of the 2018-19 NBA season came with the usual pomp and circumstance. I’m not sure what I was happier for, the start of the season or the return of Inside the NBA on TNT. There’s plenty of storylines around the league for EJ, Kenny, Chuck, and Shaq to help keep us entertained and intrigued.
There were two games on the national television calendar. In the late game, the defending champion Golden State Warriors faced off with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Here are my 4 takeaways from the first game of the night, the Philadelphia 76ers against the Boston Celtics.
The Celtics are DEEP, their roster is loaded.
Head coach Brad Stevens has so many different combinations he can throw at opponents. Their depth is a testament to general manager and President of Basketball Operations, Danny Ainge.
Boston returns a core group which reached the Eastern Conference Finals last season without the injured Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward. Those two players were their biggest offseason acquisitions last year, they were supposed to be their 1-2 punch. And they still took LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers to Game 7.
The Celtics, with Irving and Hayward back, can throw a plethora of lineup combinations at opponents. Al Horford can still get buckets. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are youngsters on the rise. Marcus Morris, Marcus Smart, Aron Baynes, and Terry Rozier bring a gritty bench mob-mentality as reserves.
Good depth is a huge plus for any team looking to make a deep run in the playoffs. The Celtics’ depth is what makes them so dangerous.
Jayson Tatum will be great for a long time.
In Boston’s 105-87 win over the Philadelphia 76ers, Tatum finished with a game-high 23 points and nine rebounds. It was a balanced attack by the Celtics, but the play of Tatum’s performance stood out the most.
There’s a growing confidence about his game which is fun to watch. He balances aggression with a methodical approach. There’s a maturity to his game which makes it easy to overlook he’s still only 20 years old.
There was one play in the second half where Tatum, guarded closely by 76ers’ star Joel Embiid, knocked down a step-back jumper that brought Boston’s home crowd to their feet.
Embiid was draped all over Tatum, he played him as well as you can without having to hand-check him like NBA players used to do back in the 90’s.
This kid is GOOD. pic.twitter.com/IO3O644eci
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) October 17, 2018
Tatum is special, he’s going to be big-time in the league for years to come.
The 76ers vs Celtics rivalry isn’t renewed yet, but be patient, its coming.
How good are the Celtics? They’re depth clearly makes them better than Philadelphia.
Irving didn’t shoot the ball well in their win over the Sixers. Hayward is still working his way back with limited minutes. But Boston won this game by 18 points, with Irving shooting 2 for 14 from the field.
The Celtics have a talented starting lineup, a deep bench, and they play excellent team defense. Philadelphia took a huge step forward with reaching the playoffs last season. Embiid and Ben Simmons are an exciting 1-2 punch for Sixers fans to look forward to watching over the next decade.
It’s fun to see the renewal of a great NBA rivalry, but the 76ers still don’t have enough to keep up with Boston, especially in a playoff series.
Which leads me to my final takeaway…
Embiid and Simmons are Philly’s 1-2 punch. But the jury is still out on Markelle Fultz.
I was watching the Inside the NBA pregame show, they were talking about Philadelphia still in search of a third star to help Embiid and Simmons.
The door is open for Fultz to get in where he fits in. But with Simmons showing he can do it all, including play the point, it didn’t look like Fultz fits anywhere on that team.
This could change, it’s still only one game. The Sixers drafted Fultz number one overall last year, they have to see what they have there in him.
Sixers head coach is starting Fultz in the first half of games, and having him come off the bench to start the second half. I’m with TNT studio analyst Kenny Smith on this one, that approach just doesn’t make much sense. Either you play him, so he can grow into his role, or start looking elsewhere.
Fultz didn’t play much last year because of health issues and difficulties with his jump shot. He started at shooting guard and scored 5 points in 24 minutes against the Celtics.
Based on what he showed, in limited action, the Sixers may need to look elsewhere for that third option.
