The Celtics are on the brink of elimination after the 76ers took a 3-2 series lead Tuesday.
Boston dropped the ball losing 115-103 to Philadelphia at TD Garden. Joel Embiid made key plays and showed why he was worthy of winning MVP this season. James Harden has played lights out in all but two games of the series, and the Celtics are left asking questions with their backs against the wall.
Players have said the right things and head coach Joe Mazzulla insisted Game 5 was the only “really bad game,” but the NBA playoffs are all about counters to counters. Doc Rivers, despite narratives thrown by high-profile media personalities, made the correct adjustments to put his players in the best position.
The insertion of Danuel House Jr. certainly wasn’t expected, but it’s the little things Philadelphia has done right that Mazzulla must respond to if the Celtics want to make a comeback in the best-of-seven series. These are four key things that could decide Boston’s fate.
Pick-and-roll coverage
Again, Embiid and Harden have lived up to their star power. The 76ers are doing a smart job with their spacing to make it a two-man game in pick-and-roll actions and prevent their star center from catching the ball at the elbow in a precarious situation. And Boston must find a counter to this, especially in its drop-coverage schemes. They need to be more consistent with their rotations on switches and make that pocket pass from Harden to Embiid more difficult. And when Boston does do everything right on defense, players must be more disciplined.
Far too often, players were too aggressive in their contests when all they had to do was stay in front and contain. Robert Williams had his worst game defensively because he tried too hard to make a big block to give the Celtics an energy boost. There were too many cases of players over-helping, which got them a half-second late to a wide-open shooter. Mazzulla must make adjustments, but players also need to trust each other and focus on making smart plays and not highlight plays.
Commit to neutralizing stars
Embiid had his best 3-point performance of the playoffs Tuesday when he went 3-for-7, but he’s shooting 22.7% from downtown in the playoffs. It’s a shot the Celtics defense will have to live with as opposed to his preferred elbow jumper or working in the paint. Boston also has to live with Tyrese Maxey having a breakout game like he did in Game 5. If the third-year guard is going to hit a dagger three over Derrick White, that’s just how you’re losing because the last thing you want to see is Harden’s game-winner over Al Horford in Game 1. The Celtics need to go all out to contain Embiid — whose minutes are being managed over possible conditioning issues — and Harden and live with Maxey, Tobias Harris and P.J. Tucker beating them.
Free-flow offense
A quote from Marcus Smart has made the rounds on social media about the veteran guard calling the Celtics offense “random.” This has been slightly misconstrued amid Boston’s struggles. If you look at the full context of what Smart told The Athletic’s Jay King on May 3, the offense truly is “random.” The Celtics offense thrives on ball movement with Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Smart making the correct reads to generate good shots. Rivers made his adjustment in Game 5 by having his team switch on every pick and roll in an effort to keep the ball in front and make Tatum and Brown hit tough shots.
The Celtics correctly focused on moving the ball around to find open shooters or clear out open lanes for drives. The problem was Boston didn’t commit to this the whole game. The other problem was players like Horford were not hitting their open shots. The 76ers are hitting more catch-and-shoot 3-pointers per game than the Celtics in the playoffs — 43.6% to 39.9%. Horford is hitting 31% of his catch-and-shoot threes per game, which is considerably down from his 44.8% clip from the regular season. The lack of shot-making has made the Celtics force the issue and break their tempo, which has played into Philadelphia’s game.
Boston needs to play at its pace and allow Tatum and Brown to generate the high-efficiency offense the team is capable of. Players like Smart and Horford need to play within themselves, and role players like White, Malcolm Brogdon and Grant Williams need to step up and make the shots that are given to them. If they’re not able to do that, the team might look completely different next season.
