Boston Celtics Credit Philadelphia 76ers' Physicality After Game 1

All year long, Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown preached playing bully ball. As the Sixers' front office put together an unusually tall starting lineup, with guys who take pride in playing suffocating defense, Philly hoped to become one of the most physical teams in the NBA throughout the 2019-2020 season.

Although the Sixers failed to come out on top with a win against the Boston Celtics during Game 1 in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, the physicality they played with all season long surely wasn't absent against the Celtics on Monday.

"Their physicality [was the biggest challenge for us]," said Celtics emerging star, Jaylen Brown. "I think them just coming out, being aggressive, and playing strong. You know, [Joel] Embiid down there is a lot -- Al [Horford] playing physical is a lot. We're small, but we gotta fight. We got a lot of fight in us. If we keep fighting, we'll be alright."

Celtics star Jayson Tatum echoed the same sentiment following Monday night's matchup. "They made it tough, and we knew that [they would]," Tatum claimed. "They are a tough team, and they've got a lot of versatile guys on both ends of the ball. We were just trying to figure out how they were playing and trying to move the ball around."

At times, the Celtics were taking care of the Sixers with ease and managed to get in front with a double-digit lead. But the scrappy Sixers were able to claw their way back in the game, and even got ahead of the Celtics at a point during the second half. "I'm really happy with the way we responded when we were down," said Celtics head coach, Brad Stevens.

"But there were three or four times where we were up ten or eleven, and it got cut to three or four," he continued to explain. "We have to be better than that. With that said, the other team is good too. They are physical, tough, and they are hard to play against. They did a great job defensively by making it hard for us to catch. I have to give them credit. I also think we need to do better in those moments."

While the Sixers' physical play worked at times against Boston, it wasn't enough to escape Monday night's game with a victory. Fewer mistakes for the Celtics allowed them to maintain a lead late in the game and wrap up Game 1 in the playoffs with a win over the Philadelphia 76ers.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_