Celtics’ Blake Griffin calls out Sixers for not adjusting their game plan

BOSTON–The Philadelphia 76ers entered Wednesday night’s contest with the Boston Celtics looking to make a statement. They were a healthy group while the Celtics were missing three starters in Marcus Smart, Al Horford, and Robert Williams III before losing another starter in Jaylen Brown due to a facial fracture.

In place of Horford and Williams III, the Celtics started veteran Blake Griffin. The veteran was only playing in his 23rd game of the season and he was averaging 3.8 points and shooting 32.1% from deep.

On Wednesday, Griffin knocked down five triples with three coming in the first quarter as he finished with 15 points on the night. His efforts helped the Celtics knock off the Sixers 106-99. Boston knocked down 19 triples on 35 attempts as they had a big night from deep.

“Us,” said James Harden when asked what went wrong on defense. “Blake Griffin hit three threes, I think in the beginning. He hit like five or six threes like no disrespect, but that can’t happen. That’s 15 points, 18 points that we’re given up that it’s difficult to get back from. I think we did a solid job on JT. It can’t happen.”

Overall, Griffin shot 5-for-8 from deep and seven of them were wide-open looks. When asked if he felt disrespected that the Sixers were leaving him open, the veteran didn’t feel that way, but he was confused by Philadelphia’s lack of adjustments.

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

In the second half, Griffin knocked down two more wide-open looks as the Sixers just had a ton of issues defending the Celtics and their barrage of 3-point shooting.

The Sixers will now have to find a way to bounce back on Friday when they return home to host the New York Knicks.