I don't think I'm going out on a limb to suggest that the Sixers won't shoot 50% from 3 in most games.
Embiid sagged back, leaving wide open 15' shots for Theis/Kanter. In the halfcourt, I'm thrilled to settle for that as the 3rd or 4th option.
There was a lot more in the first half before the Celtics got tired (pretty common for the 2nd half in a B2B). Kemba was ripping some pretty big holes in the Sixers that should be consistently available. The unsustainable 1st half 3-pt shooting by Philly masked a pretty bad half by them. I imagine all of this is why Brad didn't seem particularly perturbed after the game (he's usually a pretty open book wrt process vs results).
yep. Kemba off the high screens/dribble, whichever wing Harris/Scott/Ennis guard is exploitable, open 3s were all there in the halfcourt offense. Tatum/Brown will continue to improve. All doesn't bode well for the vaunted 76ers defense down the road.
Right, this is the part where I'd give the Celtics the edge in a playoff series, just because Stevens is good at designing gameplans to relentlessly attack weak links. You can't really install that when you're flying in from Indy the night before. 16-game and 82-game NBA basketball are almost different sports.
Yeah, the center topic has been gone over a lot. There's basically no one who's a real upgrade who can be gotten without using Smart to match salary. Also complicating things is that Theis has been too good to trade at $5M/year. The perfect guy would have been Baynes, but apparently they found out about Kemba's interested after they had already worked with him to pick up his team option, so that's out for the year.
OK, now I need to go watch this. One of my predictions before the season was that teams would attack Philly's lack of shooting by zoning to take away Embiid. Miami also doesn't have tons of bulk (Adebayo is strong, but he's a PF, not Marc Gasol; the Celtics are probably a more athletic/physical team), so there could be a blueprint here for smaller teams.
Here's one of many articles on the subject: https://www.crossingbroad.com/2019/12/adventures-with-zone-defense-observations-from-heat-108-sixers-104.html
Heat has been effectively using the 2-3 zone this season, especially when they have length at the top with Derrick Jones/Butler.
Simmons has been great on defense this season. But critics are saying that Brett Brown chose Ben and Tobias over Jimmy Butler in the off-season. Worked out well for Jimmy. Philly still seems disjointed on offense and Embiid’s body language last night was that of a frustrated big man.
Agree. Al had a so-so line from last night and played the least minutes (25) of all the starters and was a -14. He's just gotten too rickety; it was obvious last year when the guy was so springy and fresh in games after getting an extra few days off. I was more concerned about the Celtics at center position earlier, but Theis has really stepped up and Kanter isn't bad on defense against slower, bulkier centers.
Ugh, I get the frustration, but it just feels wrong to blame Brown for the groceries he's been given. It's like Brad last year--giving him Rozier, Morris, and Kyrie just destroyed any ability he had to gameplan or develop an offensive identity.
Not shocking: Boston is an awful matchup for Dallas (even with Luka).
They are a poorly constructed team, but I think that you hit the nail on the head with the Simmons/Embiid mismatch.
Porzingis surprised me last night with his strength and power moves for dunks. Haven’t seen him in a couple years. He’s a man now, and averaging 22 ppg since Luka got hurt. That’s a great 1-2 punch with plenty of quality spare parts.
KOC is such a friendly dude, I love the rare occasions where he goes for the throat lol
Yeah, when you start trading Romeo Langford types for pennies on the dollar, you end up with these types of trade history flows.
I read in The Atlantic that Milwaukee does not play a zone. Looked like a man D game today for both sides. Embiid started out on Giannis and guarded him closely all game.
Everything looks good when you're making shots, but they also missed a ton of good looks against Dallas iirc. I don't think the zone is a substitute for playing smart, connected help defense.
I'll say. Giannis was -18 for the game, his worst +/- since game 1 of the EC semis vs. Boston in April.
Wow, didn’t see the game (and yes I know context is king in +\-) but that’s some alpha male stuff...maybe Shaq really did light a fire .
Yeah, ugly line last night: 2 for 12 shooting. I would think more concerning for Philly would be his modest 3 rebounds and 2 assists in almost 30 minutes (also he was a -26). It wasn't pretty watching him get stuffed by Sabonis; if he can't loft a hook shot over a guy averaging 0.6 blocks per game, what can he do? I think the 76ers may have pulled off a Nets move, eagerly acquiring a Celtics big man on the decline.
I'd feel worse for him if he didn't, quite literally, have the ability to fully pick his destination this past summer. This is on him to a large degree--everyone knew Philly would have these offensive fit issues going into the year.
I don't know, how does he play with Simmons? Both are at their best with the ball in their hand, so long as Simmons is the primary ballhandler, Kemba would largely be relegated to an off-ball spot up shooter. He'd be good in that position, but very overpaid.
Think he'd be fine--he actually does a lot of off-ball work for the Celtics, as well as doing initial probes that open things up for slashers. The Sixers' big weakness is that they don't really have an on-ball creator who is an emergency from 3 off the PnR. That allows slow bigs like Kanter to be playable against them, among other things.
