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Turns Out the Celtics are Kinda Shit When They Don’t Shoot 65% from Three or Grab 75 Offensive Rebounds
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Uh oh!
The Sixers are looking goooooood. They blew the doors off the Celtics on Thursday night, 106-93, forcing a Game 7 on Saturday in Boston.
Who are these guys and what have they done with the local basketball team? –
Double figures for every Sixers starter. Joel Embiid only shot 6-18 from the floor but was two assists shy of a triple double. Playoff Paul George had a few sequences where he looked like prime Dirk Nowitzki out there. Tyrese Maxey shot 11-22 from the floor in a 30 point effort. He was assertive and attacked the basket and is looking much more like himself than what he showed in Game 4, when Joel first came back into the lineup.
More importantly, the Sixers have been a lot better in perimeter defense. More disciplined at the Boston three point line while limiting second chances and not overhelping. Good denial, ball pressure, and smart switching. They’re fighting at the point of these ball screens and working harder, too.
The Celtics went 12-41 from beyond the arc, a cool 29%, while grabbing just eight offensive rebounds on Thursday night. Turns out they’re kinda shit when they aren’t hitting from deep. They don’t seem to have viable plan B when they aren’t raining three pointers on the opposition, outside of maybe going iso with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown and playing hero ball.
You’re super-wary of putting the cart before the horse considering every deflating postseason loss the Sixers have suffered over the past nine years. That includes Game 7 in Boston in 2023, when they were totally thumped and ended up quitting. But this team looks and feels different at the current moment, so we’re gonna cross our fingers and hope they can find a way to get it done this time.
Your postseason Sixers:
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com