Celtics (7-14) vs. 76ers (2-21): Trap Game Alert

The Boston Celtics head to the city of brotherly love to take on the team that has become synonymous with tanking.

If you are afraid that the Celtics are under-estimating this team, well that makes two of us, brother.

Even though the Celtics are not exactly a team on the rise, themselves, it must be tough for any team to take the 76ers seriously.  Losing twenty-one out of twenty-three games to start a season will do that.  Still, the 76ers actually held a 18-point lead on the Memphis Grizzlies Saturday night before collapsing down the stretch, so there are signs that this team is learning how to compete.

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Boston, meanwhile, is riding a three-game losing streak, the last of which absolutely astounds me.  Not only did Boston lose to the New York Knicks at home Friday night – they were thoroughly outplayed by a team that came in riding a ten-game winning streak.   Allowing the Knicks to shoot almost 50% from the field?  Falling behind by 15 with less than six minutes to go in the game, after slicing New York’s lead to two?  Inexcusable.

So if any players for Boston are feeling kind of cocky heading into this game, they need to be benched, for at least the entire first quarter.  This team is nowhere near good enough to think they can beat the 76ers just by showing up.

 Three Things The Celtics Should Do But Will Probably Ignore

Because we wouldn’t want to win this thing!

1. Lay off of the 3-ball.  I’m going to keep banging this drum until someone starts dancing to my beat.  Boston is horrific from behind the arc.  Put another way, they suck.  The Celtics MISSED 15 three-pointers Friday night.  Any team that MISSES that many threes should not even be attempting that many threes.  I know the 3-ball is not exactly a high percentage shot, but a team that can barely hit 33% of them should not rank close to the league’s top ten when it comes to attempts (Boston is 11th).

2. Bench Jared Sullinger and start Kelly Olynyk.

This isn’t meant to be a punishment for Sully, although he has been playing terribly as of late (he’s averaging 3.3 points and 19% shooting over his last three games).  Rather, I’d like to see the Celtics try to use KO at the 4, giving the Celtics a starting five of Rajon Rondo, Avery Bradley, Jeff Green, KO, and Tyler Zeller.  First of all, it might help Olynyk’s confidence, and let’s face it: a seven-footer at the 4 creates a lot of match-up problems.

3. Don’t lose.

Okay then!  The game tips off in the Wells Fargo Center at 7 p.m. Follow us on Twitter @houdiniceltics and come back later on for our reactions!