For two teams that have become quite familiar with each other this season, there could be some less familiar faces on the floor when the Celtics meet up with the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night.
WALTHAM — For two teams that have become quite familiar with each other this season, there could be some less familiar faces on the floor when the Celtics meet up with the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night.
For the fourth time in the first three months of the regular season — and second time in a week — the Celtics will take the court against their Atlantic Division rivals, this time in a nationally televised game on the parquet. But this one could have a much different look than the meeting in London last Thursday when the Celtics engineered a 41-point turnaround, rallying from down 22 points in the second quarter to lead by as many as 19 in the fourth of a 114-103 victory.
The 76ers will be without JJ Redick for up to two weeks after he suffered a small crack in the fibula head of his left leg in Monday’s victory against the Toronto Raptors. Richaun Holmes is also expected to miss the game for Philadelphia with a bout of gastroenteritis.
The Celtics were down a few bodies for Wednesday’s short shootaround as well — most notably All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving.
The team reported that Irving informed the training staff after Tuesday’s overtime loss to the New Orleans Pelicans that he was experiencing left shoulder soreness. He has been deemed questionable for Thursday night.
Marcus Smart and Guerschon Yabusele have also been listed as questionable after missing Wednesday’s workout with an illness.
It could all add up to some new wrinkles in what has been a mostly predictable matchup this season.
“They’re still very fresh on our minds with the things that they run on offense,” Al Horford said about what the Celtics do know about the 76ers from their frequent meetings, which also includes a preseason game this year. “What I took away is that they’re a team that plays very hard. We have to make sure that we, from the beginning of the game, that we’re right with it. We can’t build ourselves a hole like we did in London. We have to make sure that we get off to a good start.”
The 76ers — especially Redick — were able to score at will on the Celtics early in London before Boston turned the tide in a big way across the pond.
But the Celtics were never able to get out of that defensive funk on Tuesday as they were outscored 50-30 in the paint and allowed 116 points in 53 minutes.
“Our transition defense wasn’t really too good,” Celtics rookie Jayson Tatum said of the next-day film study. “We kind of made it comfortable for them out there. We should have made it tougher. Obviously, they have great players. But we should have made it tougher for them to score.”
On the few occasions when the defense has struggled this season, the Celtics have been able to bail themselves out by making shots late. But that was not the case on Tuesday as they shot 39.6 percent for the night and took 50 3-pointers. While they made 19 (38 percent), Horford allowed after the game that 50 was “a lot” and something the team will have to examine.
“Sometimes we’re not running our offense with enough pace,” Horford determined. “We get caught in under six seconds on the [shot] clock and we have to force a tough shot. We have plenty of guys who have that ability, and they make them. But as much as we can get those open shots, we’ll be better as a group.
“We just need to keep creating those good habits. Having such a young group, and a new team, it takes time to figure all those things out. We put a lot of effort on defense a lot of the times. I feel then sometimes our offense suffers a little bit.”
For a team that had not lost in more than three weeks, there was little sense of panic following the first defeat in eight games.
But Celtics coach Brad Stevens and Horford did both note some recurring concerns that will need to be corrected.
“If we move the ball,” Horford said, “if we’re getting really good looks every time down the floor, that puts us in the best position to win. I don’t know how that will translate to numbers — to rankings and stuff — but when we’re at our best, we’re moving the ball and making the extra pass. Not taking those tough, contested shots that over the course of the game that we fall into sometimes.”
Scott Souza can be reached at ssouza@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @Scott_Souza.