We Want Boston?

In this high-stakes episode of Second Round Syndrome, hosts DJSportsZone and Jordan Sabel react to a brutal start to the Philadelphia 76ers’ playoff series against the Boston Celtics after a humiliating 123–91 Game 1 loss. With Joel Embiid sidelined following his appendicitis surgery, the Sixers looked overwhelmed from the opening tip, raising serious questions about whether this roster can compete with the Eastern Conference elite.

Inside the Game 1 Disaster:
 • Celtics Take Control: Jayson Tatum looked fully healthy in his return from a torn Achilles, scoring 21 first-half points while Jaylen Brown added 26. Boston’s three-point shooting overwhelmed Philadelphia, knocking down 16 threes compared to the Sixers’ four.

• Maxey Under Pressure: Tyrese Maxey finished with 21 points but struggled to find his rhythm, shooting 8-of-20 as Boston’s defensive scheme disrupted the Sixers’ primary scoring option.

• Passive Paul George: Despite shooting efficiently, Paul George attempted only eight shots—something the hosts argue simply isn’t enough with Embiid unavailable and the offense desperate for scoring.

• Frontcourt in Trouble: Early foul trouble for Andre Drummond and rookie Adem Bona forced the Sixers into difficult lineup decisions, including extended minutes for Dominick Barlow at center against Boston’s physical frontcourt.

• The Embiid Void: With their MVP sidelined once again during a critical moment, the hosts debate whether the team’s ongoing “Second Round Syndrome” can ever be broken if their franchise centerpiece is consistently unavailable when the stakes are highest.

• Philadelphia Sports Contrast: The episode also compares the Sixers’ performance to the Philadelphia Flyers, who showed far more intensity in their playoff matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins—highlighting the lack of fight shown by the Sixers against their longtime rivals.

Looking ahead to Game 2, the hosts call for urgency and accountability from the roster. If the series continues to spiral toward a sweep or a “gentleman’s sweep,” they argue that major organizational changes could be on the horizon.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome to second round syndrome. Round two. Welcome on into second round syndrome, your talk for the Philadelphia 76ers and the NBA. I'm your host, DJ Sportzone. With me is my co-host, Jordan Sable. Jordan, I was actually pretty hyped going into this game. And maybe that's just because of that awesome Game One victory the Flyers had against the Pittsburgh Penguins last night. But the Sixers got their asses whooped. 123-291. It looked like they didn't even try. And we have a lot of things to go over with this game, but there's nothing positive. And really quickly, I want to say this before I throw it to you, Jordan. Any of the Philly fans that were chanting we want Boston after that play-in victory against the Orlando Magic the other day are morons. They're idiots. Because guess what? You got exactly what you wanted. We got Boston, and they have our number. It's not good. There's nothing to look forward to going forward here. And I said this to you the uh the our in our last episode, Jordan. And I said, I wouldn't be shocked if the Sixers got swept. Now, it's only one game. It's a best of seven series. The Celtics still need to win three more games. But I don't think there's a lot of hope for the Sixers for the remainder of this series, especially without Joel and Bede. What is your overall take on this ass whooping that the Sixers received from the Boston Celtics?

SPEAKER_00 1:48

Did it, DJ? Ditto. Pretty much. We got clowned by the Celtics today. It was pretty much a disgraceful performance across the board. I don't think anyone had a great game, honestly. Maybe Maxie put in some points, but that was again later on in the game when I kind of the break was they were putting their foot off the gas pedal at the end of that game. But I don't think the Sixers ever led in this game. They never led, even at the beginning, when it was 0-0. That was the closest the Sixers ever were to leading in this game. It was it was a blowout right in the first quarter. They were down by 10 points, and it just grew and grew at halftime. They were down by 20. And then they make this little bit of a run in the third quarter, and a turnover by Drummond ends up, you know, causing a two straight three-pointers, and they're back up by 20. So at that point, I was like, oh, this game's over. And I texted you, DJ, and you were like, yep, terrible turnover, and and that, and the rest was kind of history there. There was a lot of optimism coming into the series, obviously, with the fans. And I I will agree with you in your take. And you said uh the fans that mentioned and said that we want Boston. It's obviously look what we got. We got Boston and we got blown out by 32. Um, not the right decision from those fans to chant that because we got clowned again by the fans, and the team got clowned. So maybe they can make an effort uh in the next game. I think we'll lose game two, game three or four. Uh maybe we can pull one out, but again, uh your idea of what you said last show was um where we might get swept is is a full-blown reality now with how they performed in this first game. So yeah, do you have anything else to add on this? Because um pretty much I'm exhausted with the I don't want to go into more Negadelphia, but obviously that's gonna be the the point of the show when we lost by 32.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Well, I just think awareness with Sixers fans completely went out the window. Like the people that were mad at anyone in the media, anyone that covers the Sixers on on YouTube or on audio platforms like we do. I just saw a lot of comments going at those people, but I just don't think there was any awareness. Like, have you watched the Sixers at all this season? Right? They're just not a very good team, especially against very good teams, right? We see them get a victory against the Utah Jazz, and then we say, Oh, we can compete against anybody, we get a win against the Indiana Pacers. Oh, this is great. But then when you're chanting, we want Boston, when and I think the broadcast said the last six series that the Sixers have played against Boston, the Celtics have won those series, right? I mean, I just don't understand why any fan would want to go against the Boston Celtics. If anything, I would have rather been the four or five seed, right? I would have been comfortable going against the Cleveland Cavaliers, I would have been more comfortable going against the Toronto Raptors, the New York Knicks, even. The Boston Celtics, and I've said this a thousand times. I think the Celtics are coming out of the Eastern Conference. They are the most dangerous team in the NBA, right? They were dangerous even before they got Jason Tatum back. And when you watch Tatum in this game, I mean, he had 21 points of the first half. 21 points. He did not look like he missed most of the season. He did not look like he just suffered a torn Achilles just last season in the playoffs. It just doesn't look like that at all. And the Celtics, it's so scary because you can't leave anybody wide open. Anyone can't leave Jason Tatum wide open, Jalen Brown, Derek White, Sam Hauser, Pritchard, Bucevic, you can't leave anyone wide open, right? And the Mia's Keda is great inside the paint. And the Sixers are not a great three-point shooting team. I think the the broadcast mentioned that they since the beginning of March, the Sixers were one of the worst three-point shooting teams. And there were plenty of opportunities for the Sixers to take advantage, especially as you mentioned in the third quarter. Did they do that? Not really. When it seemed like there might have been a spark, it just kept getting ruined by unforced turnovers. And as you mentioned, they didn't win a single quarter. 18 points of the first quarter, 33 to 18 is what they got outscored. Right? Second quarter, 31 to 28. The third quarter, 31 to 25. And then the fourth quarter, when basically nobody was left playing at that point, 28 to 20. They didn't win a single quarter. And then you look at the specific stats, right? I mean, the Sixers had 14 turnovers. Celtics only had eight. Right? I mean, and and the Sixers just couldn't shoot the ball. They couldn't shoot the three ball. I mean, they shot 17%. Four of 23 from Beyond the Arc. They made four three-pointers the entire game. Guess how many threes the Celtics made, Jordan?

SPEAKER_00 7:09

How many?

SPEAKER_01 7:10

16. And they took 44. They took almost twice the amount of three-pointers that the Sixers made, and they made way more. Right. And we've known this for years that the Celtics are a high volume three-point shooting team. That's always been the case, especially under this Joe Mazzula era. And once the Celtics are hot, they're hot. And the Sixers could not find a way to stop them, any of them. Right? You look at the specific stats of the Celtics, right? I mentioned Jason Tatum had 21 points the first half. He ended with 25 points and 11 rebounds, seven assists, two steals. Jalen Brown ended with 26 points. He had 10 in the first half. He had 16 in the second half. You had Namias Cada, 13 points. Sam Hauser had 12, four of six from three, by the way. Derek White had 10 points. Peyton Pritchard had 12 points. And they got great production from Luca Garza, from Baylor Shireman, who we gave praise to in that Celtics Orlando game a week ago. They have so many options. And then you look at the Sixers side of things. You said Tyrese Baxie, you know, had the best game out of all the Sixers. And technically, yes, he had 21 points, but he shot eight of 20 from the field. That's not a good game. I mean, he couldn't make shots. I mean, the Sixers honestly couldn't shoot anywhere. It was like there was a lid right on the rim. How many layups did they miss? I mean, it felt like they missed at least a dozen layups. It felt like I was watching every player of the Sixers turn into Tobias Harris. So there was that. They couldn't shoot threes, as I mentioned. They made four the entire game. And then it felt like they couldn't even make a free throw. And then you look at the other players. Paul George, I mean, he shot well. Four of eight from the field, 17 points, but eight shots. We need more from Paul George, right? Fiji Edgecombe, he struggled in the first half. He ended with 13 points, but 0 of 5 from 3, 6 of 16 from the field, that's not good. Kelly Ubre couldn't make a shot. He also shot 0 of 5 from 3, right? 5 of 14 from the field, 10 points. Quinton Grimes, where was Quinton Grimes, especially in the first half? I think it was like the third or the fourth quarter. I was like, has this dude even taken a shot? Now, by the end of the game, seven points, three of six from the field, one of two from three. You need way more from Quentin Grimes. And then on top of that, it there was the foul trouble. I mean, I felt like it was within half the first half of the uh first quarter. You had Andre Drummond and a Dembona both on the bench because they both had two personal fouls at that point, and they had to bring in Dominic Barlow to play the center. Like that's so dangerous against this Boston Celtics team. You already don't have Joel Embiid. And at this point, I don't think we're gonna see him at all in the series. So you need production from anybody and everybody at the same time. And I don't think we're gonna get that. Now, as I said, it's a seven-game series. Anyone could go off in any moment, but it has to be now, right? Game two, they don't have much time. I mean, game two is on Tuesday, then they have two days in between, I believe mainly because the Flyers are gonna be home first. Then they play at home on Friday. So they do have a couple days in between game two and game three, but they need to figure out figure it out now. And one last thing before I hand it over to you, Jordan. Josh Harris. We all saw you on the sideline, man. We saw you. I really hope you're taking notes. Because if this ends poorly, which I think it's going to, right, maybe they're they're able to squeak out a win, maybe, right? When I when I made my reaction video to the Sixers magic play-in game, I said boss, I said Boston in six games. But if the Sixers lose in four or five, maybe it's a gentleman sweep, change is needed. And I don't want to get too ahead of myself on this because who knows? Maybe the Sixers win the next four games in a row, and I'm hyped and ready to go for round two. But as of right now, because we can only talk about what we saw from game one, Josh Harris, take notes because change is coming. What are your thoughts, Jordan?

SPEAKER_00 11:22

Change is coming, and it's needed, especially after this performance. It's just I guess disappointing overall. I mean, we've had we've done the show for at least I've been on it for probably about half the season, and it's been a lot of time without Embiid. So um, we kind of rag on about the the fact that Embiid is so important to this team, and this honesty showed the his production is incredibly important to this team, and it's without him is a huge loss, and we're seeing the results of that loss right now, and and that kind of ties into the fact that we need some change. Whether that's do we go down a different model of like in the future are we gonna move players on, which players are we moving on, here this and that. And I hate to like rag on about like the this is like the end of this season stuff, but just the way this result happened, it it feels like we've we're super down in this series already to start, even though it's only one game. I feel like this series is just a lost cause anyway. And I I hate to be I hate to bring that Negadelphia energy, that negative um, the bad energy, the bad juju, but just the way this result happened, I just I I don't see them winning a game. I think maybe they can win one in South Philadelphia, but I don't think they're gonna end up winning the series, just with how the results have panned out and with the injuries and just today's game being super disappointing. I just feel like it's gonna we're gonna see the same thing on Tuesday. And like you said, they play on Friday at home. Maybe they can eke one out, but I again I the with how today went, it's just it's not positive.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

Well, let's just assume the Celtics are gonna win game two. I mean, you you have to win both games at home to have even a shot at this series, right? It'd be great to be able to get a win at TD Garden. I just don't see it happening, right? As you said, the fans are trolling us, the team was trolling us, and the Sixers did it to themselves. I mean, the moment Andre Drummond got a tech, I was smacking my head. Like they just their heads are not in this series, right? Tyrese Maxie is trying their best. Boston will not give anybody room. They they know if they take Tyrese Maxie out of the game, the Sixers have no chance. That was their game plan, right? Make sure Tyrese Maxie can't get off a shot. It's kind of like what Draymond Green did to Kawhi Leonard in that Warriors Clippers playing game. Draymond Green made sure that Kawhi Leonard couldn't get a shot up. Because if you take Kawhi out of the game, the Clippers are nothing, right? Maybe you could get something from Darius Garland, Benedict Matherin, any of these other players, but Kawhi Leonard, he's the centerpiece. Now with Joel Embiid, right? Obviously, we we know he's probably not coming back this series. So you gotta figure it out. Right? Because this this is the case every single year. The last two years, the whole thing is about protecting Embiid so he's healthy enough for the playoffs. Well, we're we're here, we're at the playoffs, where's Embiid? Right? And I'm not blaming Embiid at all, right? I don't, I don't think it's his fault. I don't think any blame should be put on Joel Embiid. It's just honestly how he is at this point, right? He's just the un most unlucky player in the world when it comes to injuries. He's got a lot of money, he's got a lot of things to be proud of in his career with his family, all that great stuff. But when we're talking about Embiid, Embiid's availability, it's just non-existent. Whether you rest him or not, right? Something random is gonna pop up. I mean, what's more random other than maybe Bell's palsy than appendicitis? I mean, that's not a basketball injury, right? That's just something random that happened. That it's horrible. It happened at the worst possible time, but that's just where we are right now. And that's why I'm saying changes need it. Because obviously Embiid still has that three-year extension that kicks in. I don't know who's gonna want that contract or anything like that. I don't want to get too into like off-season moves. But at this point, you gotta realize that Embiid is never gonna be healthy. And it and I'm sad about it. I love Joel Embiid. I'm wearing a Joel Embiid jersey right now. Right? I I want to see him win a championship more than anything. Right? I love this team. I met VJ Edgecombe a couple weeks ago at Primo Hoagies, right? He signed my hat. Like it was so exciting to get to talk to him, say, hey, win a championship for us. But it's tough when there's so many question marks, right? We beat the Orlando Magic in that playing game because Orlando was a flawed team, right? Those four guys, Paula Vincaro, Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs, Desmond Bain, they barely spent any time together this season. I think they played maybe 18 games together. Right? But they're still a good enough team to make the playoffs, right? Which is how they were able to beat the Charlotte Hornets, right? They blew them out. At one point it was like a 30, 40 point game. But I think they're also gonna get their asses kicked by the Detroit Pistons. Sixers, same thing, right? They're good enough to beat the lower tier teams, Orlando, right, Charlotte, obviously the lottery teams, but when you're talking about their chances against Boston, Detroit, or any of these other teams of the Eastern Conference, right? Even Cleveland or New York, I just don't think you have a shot, especially without Embiid. I think even with Embiid, the Sixers would have lost this series against the Celtics. Now, I don't think they would have gotten swept, right? I think they could have made it a seven-game series with Embiid because he just opens everybody up, right? Creates so many shots, especially beyond the arc, because he gets doubled and triple teamed, right? So you could get the ball out to Maxi. You could get the ball out to Paul George or Kelly Ubre. But without that space created, because you know Bona's not gonna do it, you know Drummond's not gonna do it, you don't have any other options at the center position, right? Because Janai Brooms out, and even if he wasn't, he'd be useless. But you gotta use Dominic Barlow or I don't know, Jabari Walker. That's or Trendon Watford, I don't know. Like none of these options are gonna get you anywhere, right? If when I said that you're like, there's no way that would work, I know it's not gonna work, but those are the options we have to work with. So it's disappointing. Game two is gonna tell us a lot, like if we get a repeat of game one in game two, I think it's over, right? Maybe they squeak out a win in South Philly, right? It would be fun to see, right? Because we haven't gotten a playoff game in Philadelphia in two years. I mean, but that was a fun series, even with Embiid on one leg and dealing and half a face with the Bell's palsy. It still was a fun series going against the New York Knicks, and Joel didn't have much help. It was Embiid, Maxine, that was kind of it, right? Tobias Harris, maybe until the last game of that series, they didn't have much help. It's kind of the same thing here, but it's even worse. And Boston is way better than New York was. So I'm very disappointed. I, you know, expected a lot more from this team, a lot more fight. But on the other hand, watching this team all season, because I've watched every single game. And anybody who's listening right now who's also watched most, if not every single game as well, you can agree because the eye test says everything, right? You can have as much hope as you want, and I don't want to be negative, but at the same time, I want to tell the truth. I want to hold players, I want to hold coaches, I want to hold ownership accountable. Because that's what Philly fans deserve. They deserve a competitive team, and unfortunately, with the hand we're dealt with, with injuries and just this roster, that's what we got. So, I mean, we we still got a couple games left. Boston still has to win three more before the series is over. It ain't over until it's over. But right now I'm disappointed, and I think the only thing we can really look forward to as Philadelphia sports fans is the Flyers because they played hard.

unknown 19:20

Right?

SPEAKER_01 19:20

I know we're not a I know we're not a hockey show, but just comparing those two teams, right? The Flyers, they they could have choked in that first game. They haven't been in the playoffs since 2020. Not most of those players have zero playoff experience, but they came in and they played hard from beginning to end, right? Even when it was three to two with with about a minute or two left in that game, right? They they played aggressive defense and they were able to win that game. I didn't feel that at all from the Sixers. So that's the only thing we have to look forward to because it ain't the Phillies, right? Right now it ain't the Sixers. Right now it's all the Flyers, and I guess the upcoming Eagles draft.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

I like I said, I've been super impressed with the Flyers um since the Olympics break. They've been probably one of the best teams in the NHL in terms of like getting points and wins and stuff. And I don't follow hockey as religiously as I do basketball and other sports, but um, I will say that they are a fun team to watch, especially with the addition of Porter Martone in this lineup and things like that. He's been able to bring like a new dimension to uh hockey, and then you add that into Michikov, Kiterie, um, Keneckni, and like the the regular guys who have been there for a while with Zegris, and um they're fun to watch, and they are a power team. Like I was watching that that whole Flyers game, they were putting hits on Penguins players, you know, causing like some um hard hits, and uh even if you get a penalty or so, just like making it a chippy affair. Uh just like the Sixers are playing our rival Celtics, why not make it a chippy affair like the Flyers playing the Pens? See, that's something that they could take from, I guess, the Flyers in uh handling away performances. They handled the Flyers handled that away performance perfectly. They did scare me down the end with that uh they they tried to they tried to give up the lead uh at the end there, but um they held Rue and you know they can maybe make a good effort for game two and and you know bring it back to South Philly at the 2-0 lead. That'd be incredible. Um Sixers, on the other hand, I uh I'm not sure if they'll be able to do that. Uh as we've talked about on the show for the past 20 minutes or so. But um, yeah, there's this is the only hope in Philadelphia right now is the Flyers, just based on what we've seen over one playoff game on both the Flyers and the Sixers. And the Phillies are just really not looking good so far. They've lost more series, I think as many series in like the first couple, like the first month or two of the season than they have like all of last season, which is just awful, especially when they've been one of the better performing teams at home in front of a great crowd at Assistance Bank Park. So I'm just overall, like the the Flyers are the one bright spot, especially for a team that just historically in the recent history just has never been the bright spot in Philadelphia. I'm glad that they're grabbing that bright spot and, you know, taking control of it because they've been a fun team to watch, especially in Philadelphia.

SPEAKER_01 22:18

Yeah, as of yesterday, the Phillies lost four games in a row. They lost their fifth series. They've only won two. And of course, they lost that series against the Atlanta Braves, which makes things even worse. And then again, you you look at what the Flyers strategy was. They wanted to get into Sidney Crosby's head. And they absolutely did that. Because the last two minutes of the game, he was in the penalty box. He couldn't even participate, right? They had a chance to tie the game, right? Because it was close, thank goodness for that Porter Martin goal. Because if it wasn't for that, the game would have been tied, right? Yeah, that opening goal from Jamie Drysdale, uh, Travis Sandheim was able to get that game up to one. But they were able to get into Crosby's head. And even the Celtics were saying our goal was to get into Maxi's head. And I believe they did that. Like, it's such a cool moment in sports when you have two rivalries happening in the playoffs, right? I mean, you have again the Flyers and the Penguins, you have the Sixers and the Celtics, one of the most historic rivalries in the entire NBA, other than maybe Celtics Lakers. I mean, there's nothing else more historic than that in the NBA. So to not be able to take advantage of that and try to get into Jason Tatum's head, try to get into Jalen Brown's head. Like it just shows weakness. The Flyers did not show weakness at all yesterday. The Sixers, that's all they showed. And they need to come back on Tuesday. They need to come back on Tuesday, reset and show what they're made of. Right? They need to show some fight because they just didn't have that. And if not, it's it's just gonna be a sweep. It's gonna be an ass whooping. And as I said, change is gonna be needed because we we can't keep running this back. We can't keep doing this. Oh, well, if Embiid gets healthy next year, if Embiid gets healthy the year after that, because then something else is gonna happen, right? Then something's gonna happen to Paul George because he keeps getting older and older and older. I mean, if it wasn't for the 25-game suspension, it probably would have been another injury. Let's be fair, let's be honest, right? And he's been looking great the last several games. Now, again, in in this game today, he didn't do too much. He he was efficient, but he needed more than eight shots, especially when you don't have Embiid, who is a 30 plus point per game scorer. So there's just uh I'm very negative right now, and I don't want to be, but that's just how it is. We'll just have to look forward to the Flyers tomorrow. That's kind of all we have. And after the Sixers game two, obviously you're gonna hear our reaction to that. If not on the podcast, then definitely on DJ Sports. I did a reaction to the Flyers game one. I'll be doing a reaction to the Sixers game one. So check that out on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook. I I post reactions to every single Sixers game. I try to post reactions to things going on with the Flyers, the Eagles, and the Phillies as well. So make sure to check that out. Follow. And second round syndrome, please make sure to check this out. If you liked it, make sure to like it, share it, subscribe, follow us, and turn on that notification bell so you never miss an episode on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, iHeart, and Amazon. As always, I'm DJ Sports Code. We got Jordan Stable here. Hopefully, we'll see you next time with the win. Peace out.