Recap: Celtics lose to Sixers in Summer League ‘action’ as Young struggles again

The first 5 minutes of this game between the Celtics and the Sixers was quintessential Summer League: in other words, it sucked. Score 3-1, Boston, with combined 1-16 shooting.

Then it actually got worse for the Celtics, as they lost to Philadelphia, 76-62, and are now 0-2 in the Utah Summer League.

Here is actual footage of the Play of the Game:

https://vine.co/v/enhjKXxjPrT

OK, that’s an exaggeration, but it’s not far off. At the end of one, the Celtics led by just 16-12, despite being outrebounded, 17-9. By halftime, Philly had taken a 27-26 lead and both teams were shooting below 30 percent. Really, no one did anything notable and neither team showed any concept of running an offense.

In the second half, the Sixers began to hit shots, while Boston did not. The Celts finished the game a brutal 19-71, including an unbelievable 3-29 on three-pointers. They were outrebounded, 55-35.

The only consolation was that Marcus Smart sat out the game to rest. After playing 30 of a possible 40 minutes the night before, Smart was in street clothes, as was Phil Pressey. That opened the door for Terry Rozier to run the team. The rest of the starting five were RJ Hunter, James Young, Jordan Mickey and Jonathan Holmes.

Smart’s absence was glaring because the Celtics had no one in a leadership role, no one to run the offense or create opportunities. Need proof? Boston had five (5) total assists for the game. FIVE!

So let’s talk about James Young.

Young struggled in the Summer League opener vs. Utah, which he later attributed to the effects of playing at Salt Lake City’s altitude of 4,327 feet. Yep, that’s what he said. He’d better hope he isn’t traded to Denver.

And we all better hope his play improves ASAP. He is supposedly stronger and more focused so he can spend this coming season in Boston instead of Maine. But it’s not happening.

For the second straight night, Young missed all his first-half shots. He turned his head on defense one time and got burned for a backdoor dunk. He wasn’t posterized only because he was too far away to be in the picture. He also took a painful shot to the balls when he was fouled trying to drive to the hoop. Young started 0-7 and finished 2-11 (1-7 from deep), had 9 points, 1 rebound and 0 assists.

The worst thing I see is that he totally lacks confidence. He also appears to be rushing his shots. He’s not able to create his own offense and, even worse, isn’t even making wide-open threes that are supposed to be his game.

Sure, he’s still only 19 years old, and he has a lot to learn. But his performance is baffling. He lit up the D-League last season, so there’s no reason he shouldn’t be doing the same in Summer League. The coaches need to somehow help him fix what’s wrong, or his career isn’t going to last long.

Some individual notes from tonight:

• CJ Fair had the only decent performance. He posted 10 points on 5-9 shooting, plus 6 rebounds, 3 assists and a block.

• Rozier can get to the hoop, all right, drawing fouls (6-7 from the line) and sometimes dishing off successfully. He scored 14 points. But he was also beaten off the dribble repeatedly by, among others, Sixer guard T.J. McConnell, who looks like a rec league player.

• RJ Hunter is 0-for-the summer. He missed all three shots tonight and, incredibly, didn’t score for the second straight night. FYI, he’s supposed to be a great shooter.

• Mickey highlights: he blew past Sixer Jahlil Okafor on a sweet baseline move and reverse layup. Soon after, he snuck inside and stole a rebound from a taller Sixer, drawing a shooting foul. In the fourth quarter, he emphatically swatted a layup attempt. However, he disappeared tonight compared to his 7-8 shooting and 16 points in the previous game.

• Marcus Thornton ran the point whenever Rozier was on the bench, had a 3-point play early, and set up teammates a couple of times with nice feeds (but no assists as shots didn’t fall). However, he dribbled the ball off his foot and out of bounds on a sneakaway and shot just 2-11.

• Okafor looked like all the other rookies out there. He struggled in the first quarter: a low-post shot was rejected by Holmes, he shot an air ball, missed both his free throws and had two turnovers. He finished with 13 and 9 and was not at all dominant like you expect third overall draft pick to be in Summer League.

• Philly had five players in double figures.

Box score