And just like that, almost as though Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla had predicted it, the Sixers put up a much stronger, more complete fight here in the opening playoff series in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference opening-round playoff series than they did in Game 1, when Boston rolled of Philly by a 32-point margin. Mazzulla obviously knows the Celtics are a good team, but they’re not 32 points better than the Sixers, and that became obvious in Game 2.
The Sixers roared back with a win in that one to bring the series to even as it heads to Philadelphia, with the Sixers ever hopeful that they might get a miracle return from star center Joel Embiid, who remains sidelined after having his appendix removed a bit less than two weeks ago.
Mazzulla has tried to keep the Celtics focused on what they need to do each night, and it was almost as if he’d had a sense that things were a bit off about his team before Game 2.
Celtics Took a Step Back vs. Sixers
After Saturday’s Celtics win, Mazzulla warned his team against getting their egos puffed up by the Game 1 blowout. “There’s a humility aspect of, what it looks like we’re at our best to play in a certain type of way from a physicality standpoint, an effort standpoint, which we try to bring every night, and then there’s just possessions that you have to get better at regardless of if you win or not. ”
They were not better in Game 2. The Celtics were led by Jaylen Brown‘s 36 points, and while they got a solid performance from Jayson Tatum (19 points), Boston was mostly sleepwalking through the game. No other Celtics player had double-digit scoring, and the supporting cast shot a total of 16-for-46 from the field, or 34.8%.
Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe Post Huge Numbers
The big problem for the Celtics was the combo pack of Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe, who, together, shot 23-for-48 from the field and scored 59 combined points on the night. The Celtics struggled to contain the pair.
Mazzulla explained that while changing coverages on the pair is an option, the Celtics’ problems often started well before that, with turnovers or missed box-out assignments.
Said Mazzulla: “You always go back to, that’s the low-hanging fruit to look at it. But I think it starts with the stuff that we can control. Second quarter, we gave up a free-throw rebound, gave up two catch-and-shoot 3s to Grimes, who has a chance to, when he makes shots they are a different team. We gave up catch-and-shoot shots there. I think the beginning, where is the stuff we can control that we can do better? And when you don’t do those things, it puts pressure on some of the stuff we are talking about. You’ve got to be able to be better at those things.
“I’d start with that. Move to our pick-and-roll defense—our body position there, the timing of our shifts. And we adjust from there.”
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