Sixers vs. Celtics takeaways: Tobias Harris must improve around the rim; how Mo Bamba ‘kind of got a raw deal’

BOSTON — Tobias Harris needed to be more forceful.

Mo Bamba discussed his comfort level and situation with the 76ers. And he and his teammates showed they do have heart without Joel Embiid.

Those three things stood out in the Sixers’ 125-119 loss to the Boston Celtics Friday night at TD Garden.

With Embiid and Tyrese Maxey sidelined with illnesses, this was Harris’ time to shine.

Harris finished with 14 points, five rebounds, three assists, and four steals. However, the standout power forward had one of his worst halves as a Sixer.

Harris scored three points on 1-for-9 shooting, missed both of his foul shots, and committed three turnovers after intermission. He made his first shot of the second half, a three-pointer, before missing his final eight shots, with most of them at the rim.

“Just would like him to just stay in a little bit more in attack mode,” coach Nick Nurse said. " He just seemed a little bit back on his heels a little bit. If he’s getting that pressure out on the floor like that, I talk to him about just, ‘You’re going to have to attack that. You can’t play at east-west. You’re gonna have to go north-south on that just a little bit.’ We’ll work on that with him.”

Harris had great scoring opportunities. He just didn’t seem deliberate or forceful at the rim. That led to his getting two dunks blocked.

“A couple of them probably trying to alter up the speed a little bit and see,” Harris said. “But that’s something we always talked about from the beginning of the year is getting out and attacking in transition and trying to create some easy ones. Just tonight, I didn’t think on a few of them, they just weren’t there tonight, to be honest, in the transition.”

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With Embiid out, reserve center Bamba played a season-high 19 minutes, 30 seconds. He finished with a season-high 11 points on 4-for-7 shooting — including making 2 of 4 three-pointers. Bamba also had a season-high six rebounds, one assist, one block, and two turnovers in his ninth appearance of the season.

Afterward, he was asked where his comfort level is.

“It doesn’t matter what my comfort level is,” Bamba said. “I kind of got a raw deal here, but that’s the tough part about the NBA. Just got to be ready for when the opportunity comes.”

Bamba said he’s taking a professional mindset. To him, that’s the secret about the NBA.

“It’s not easy to do,” he said. “People think you’re not playing, you should be able to come in if you’re healthy and be ready to go. But a lot of basketball is having rhythm, having that continuity with the guys you’re out there with. I think being out there is a big part of it. But these guys make it as easy for me to come in.”

The Sixers signed Bamba to a one-year, $2.3 million deal in July. He’s the third-string center behind Embiid and Paul Reed.

The Sixers looked nothing like the team that dug itself into holes in their previous two games with Embiid. After being blown out in the first quarters in those games, the Sixers kept it close by pushing tempo, forcing turnovers, and hitting clutch shots. That led to their coming to close to pulling off an upset victory.

“The last couple of games without Embiid, we felt like we were really soft all together,” Marcus Morris said. “We were trying to make it a point with this game with Embiid on the court or without him on the court to come out and be aggressive and play aggressive, even if we are not making shots.”