Sixers vs. Boston Celtics takeaways: Blake Griffin throws shade, Tyrese Maxey struggles, weaknesses resurface

BOSTON – Blake Griffin threw shade at Doc Rivers.

Tyrese Maxey appears to be a little funk. And the 76ers just might not be as good as we thought.

These three things stood out during Wednesday’s 106-99 loss to the Boston Celtics at TD Garden.

Griffin made a season-high five three-pointers in eight attempts while scoring 15 points in the Celtics’ win.

The 13th-year veteran got the start because Robert Williams III has a sprained left ankle. Not respecting his outside shooting, the Sixers left him wide open on the perimeter. Taking advantage, Griffin went 3-for-3 from deep in the first quarter. As a team, the Celtics (39-16) shot 19-for-35 from deep.

James Harden was asked to what he attributed Boston’s three-point shooting success.

“Us,” he said. “I mean they get off to … Blake Griffin hits three threes in the beginning. He hit five or six threes. No disrespect, but that can’t happen.”

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Harden said Griffin’s 15 points on wide-open threes were hard to overcome. He pointed out the Sixers did a solid job on Jayson Tatum, who finished with 12 points on 5-for-15 shooting.But Harden knows no team can allow Griffin to make five threes.

The Celtic was asked if he felt disrespected that the Sixers left him wide open. Griffin played for Rivers back in his days as a Los Angeles Clipper.

“I don’t really take it as disrespect,” he said. “I hurt them. That was their game plan. Obviously, Doc makes that game plan. They didn’t adjust, which has been sort of a thing. No disrespect, though.”

Maxey had his second worst shooting performance of the season, scoring six points on 3-for-14 shooting. The Sixers shooting guard missed all three of his three-pointers while playing 22 minutes, 27 seconds.

This came three games after Maxey produced his worst shooting performance. He had 10 points on 2-for-11, including going 1 of 5 three-pointers, during Feb. 1′s victory over the Orlando Magic.

Wednesday night’s matchup marked the 10th game that Maxey has played in since losing his starting job.

While he had a couple of good games initially, Maxey has recently looked out of sync in his new role.

The Sixers may have a problem.

This setback marked their second straight and third loss in five games. The Sixers blew a 21-point cushion while losing, 119-109, on Jan. 30. Then they blew another 21-point lead en route to losing, 108-97, to the undermanned New York Knicks on Sunday.

On that night, the Sixers looked lazy on defense and stopped boxing out. Then came Wednesday night’s game against at Celtics team that began the game without key starters Al Horford (right knee swelling), Marcus Smart (sprained right ankle) and Robert Williams III (sprained left ankle). Then All-Star shooting guard Jaylen Brown suffered a game-ending concussion in the first half.

Easy victory for the Sixers, right?

So many might thought, but they would be wrong.

Instead, the Sixers looked disorganized and couldn’t guard anyone in the perimeter. Instead of losses, their games against the Celtics, Knicks and Magic should have been blowout victories. But the Sixers weaknesses were exposed in each defeat.

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Best performance: This goes to Sam Hauser, an unlikely winner . . . The Celtics’ undrafted small forward torched the Sixers. Hauser scored 14 points on 5-for-6 shooting, including making all four of his three-point attempts. The second-year veteran also had eight rebounds in 20 minutes, 7 seconds of action.

Worst performance: I had to give this to Tobias Harris. The Sixers standout forward missed eight of 10 shots, including his four three-point attempts. Harris’ four points were his second lowest scoring total of the season. Harris was also a game-worst minus-11.

Best defensive performance: I had to give this to Derrick White. The Celtics guard blocked two shots in addition to scoring 19 points.

Worst statistics: This goes to the Celtics turnovers. They committed 14 turnovers, leading to 19 points for the Sixers.

Best statistics: This goes to the Boston shooting 64.3% from three in the second half.

Worst of the Worst: This goes to the Sixers losing to a depleted Celtics squad.