Caleb Martin’s Christmas performance a glimpse at why the Sixers brought him to Philly

Caleb Martin has hit a few bumps in the road to start his first season in a Philadelphia 76ers jersey, but it seems to finally all be coming together.

And what better time to find your groove in a Philly uniform than against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden on Christmas Day. Martin and the Sixers took home one hell of a holiday gift on Wednesday in the form of an impressive 118-114 win over the defending NBA champions.

Tyrese Maxey snagged a lot of the headlines following the contest (deservedly so with a 33-point, 12-assist double-double) but Martin deserves at least a few mentions as well for his contributions in the holiday matchup. Martin sank a career-high seven triples on nine attempts with four of those threes coming in the rollercoaster fourth period that nearly saw the Celtics flip the game back in their favor. He ended up with 23 points on 8-for-11 field goal shooting with three rebounds, two assists and a steal.

“Listen, the way they were scheming defensively, they were certainly trying to plug off of him, so he had some really good looks. Again, he’s a capable shooter,” Sixers’ head coach Nick Nurse said postgame of Martin. “Now, that was a special night.”

It’s been an up-and-down start to the season for Martin. The 29-year-old forward came to Philadelphia as a free agent signing during the offseason — and an exciting signing at that. That hype hadn’t exactly translated on the court in the first few weeks of the season, with inconsistency shooting due in no small part (if not entirely) to a right shoulder impingement that was hindering Martin’s ability to raise his arms past a certain height.

He missed three games from the injury (stretched over two weeks due to NBA Cup scheduling) and returned just last weekend against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Martin put up 12 points, five rebounds, a steal and a block Monday in a win over the Spurs. Most importantly, he sank 3-of-5 attempted triples and looked comfortable shooting for the first time in a long time. That comfort continued on Wednesday with the 7-for-9 three-point shooting outing against the Celtics.

(He’s always had that interesting release with the kick. That’s not what we are looking at here. The raise and release is where he seemingly was experiencing pain shooting before and would result in even more of a hitch in his shot at times.)

“Also, as I’ve been saying to you guys, he’s much healthier now than he was two weeks ago, just feeling better,” Nurse said. “The first thing he said to me was just, ‘Coach, I just feel so much better physically.’ I said, ‘Well, it shows.’ And he was battling all night defensively as well, so it was good to see him back playing well.”

It’s a small sample size, of course, but Martin is starting to look like exactly what the Sixers were looking for when they signed him — a reliable wing on both ends of the floor. It’s something that is absolutely crucial when facing a team like the Celtics, just ask Joel Embiid.

“We’ve always lacked wings and when you go against Boston, you need those wings,” Embiid said postgame Wednesday. “They’ve got guys that can switch and they’ve still got a bunch of great players — [Jayson Tatum]. [Jaylen Brown]’s great, so you’ve got to be able to guard those guys. They want to shoot a lot of threes. They play a lot of 1-on-1 and create for their teammates, so you’ve got to make sure you don’t have any mismatches on the floor to be able to go against them. Like I said, we’ve always lacked a lot of wings in the past and I feel like you can never have enough, but I feel like we have quite a few now.”

Embiid wasn’t the only Sixer to point out how vital it is to have a player like Martin put up a performance like he did.

“That’s what Caleb does. That’s the Undertaker that we know so. So shoutout to Caleb,” teammate Maxey said of Martin’s performance after the game on Wednesday.

And what better time for the Undertaker to come alive again than against the Celtics, in Boston, on Christmas. Embiid is quick to praise Martin for his timeliness there, but adds an important caveat: it needs to keep happening. Martin will have to keep shooting, hopefully stay healthy with the shoulder and get into a real groove that lasts weeks and weeks, not just a few games at a time.

“He’s playing against Boston. He hates them as much as I do. I guess I’ll take it. Nah, but he was great. I like when he’s not thinking. Tonight, he was just not thinking about it every time he had the ball, shoot or drive. Obviously, he made his shots,” Embiid said.

“We need him to keep doing that and building that confidence.”