I'm not suggesting one comeback win wipes out all the C's issues. But how many people here would have expected Boston to rally in the fourth quarter and win Game 5 in ATL that way?
Celtics vs 76ers, Round 2 Discussion
- Thread starter DeadlySplitter
- Start date
Boston started playing a playoff rotation at the beginning of January. Only in their case (largely) a seven man rotation. Five months of playoff basketball takes a toll that doesn’t vanish with two days off. When Golden State used their playoff rotation they got beaten like a rented mule. They then went to a regular season rotation and told their guys to play faster. Boston just didn’t have enough left in the tank at that point. (Especially when you factor in Tatum’s left shoulder, Timelord’s knee, and Al’s overall exhaustion.)
This year they entered the playoffs healthy and rested.
Admittedly, I have a Boston-centric view, but legacy-wise I think Embiid has a Celtics/Tatum issue. The Tatum Celtics have won nine playoff series now, to five for the Embiid Sixers, and if The C's knock him out of the playoffs for the third time it will be pretty obvious that the Sixers have a ceiling issue.
Obviously, Embiid is still in the first half of his career and narratives can change turn on a dime, but, yeah, winning the MVP and then getting annihilated once again by Tatum/Boston would result in a lot of yeah, buts.
If Embiid plays game 1 and looks awesome, I'll be an idiot, but this really feels like the old "cat's on the roof" joke, where the Sixers have known for awhile that it's very bad, and have been stringing it out and turning it into a developing story to....I don't know why, but maybe it's easier with the media that way.
Might just be gamesmanship, similar to the “Simmons might play in the first round” stories from last year. Seems unlikely to have any actual impact, although I could see the Sixers catching the Celtics napping in game 1 and steal it, or at least make it more competitive than it should be without Embiid.
Imagine if this was all a ruse, that Joel is completely fine and working out on his own. Doc that Ole Wiley Fox
Are the Sixers without Embiid a better or worse team than Atlanta? Either way, this seems like a massive break and you really get that “stars are aligning” feeling right now as long as they can stay healthy.
Sixers without Embiid, and with Harden's bad Achilles, are a much, much worse team than Atlanta.
These things usually go the exact opposite direction, however. We just went through this with Kawhi: his team knew he was done after game 2, but purposely downplayed the injury's severity.
Without looking I’m pretty sure the Sixers had a better record on the year in games that Embiid missed or at least similar. They certainly scored a ton more.
76ers Hater's Guide:
Choosing between Jayson Tatum and Al Horford for the No. 1 spot is an exercise in futility. Both have equal claims to the throne. Consider them the 1 and 1A here.
Tatum and the Sixers will be intertwined throughout his entire NBA career thanks to the Colangelo Crime Family*. After the Sixers swapped their No. 5 pick with the Sacramento Kings’ No. 3 pick in the 2017 NBA draft (Sam Hinkie’s final parting gift to the organization), the Colangelos immediately messed it up by trading that pick along with a future first-rounder to the Celtics for No. 1, which they used on Markelle Fultz.
A rare shoulder injury and/or the Monstars caused Fultz to forget how to shoot upon his arrival in Philadelphia. He played only 33 regular-season games for the Sixers before they shipped him to the Orlando Magic for Jonathon Simmons, a 2019 second-round pick and a future first-round pick. (Thankfully, that first-rounder turned into Tyrese Maxey.)
We could go back and forth all day on the Sixers’ biggest mistakes of the post-Hinkie era. The aforementioned Fultz trade and trading away Mikal Bridges are certainly up there. But sign-and-trading Jimmy Butler to the Miami Heat for Josh Richardson and using that cap space to sign Al Horford to a four-year, $109 million contract has to be toward the top of those rankings as well.
*The "Colangelo Crime Family", may offend some snowflakes (I have some Italian/North Boston heritage), but that's pretty funny
https://www.libertyballers.com/2023/4/28/23702749/2023-nba-playoffs-haters-guide-to-boston-celtics-sixers-al-horford-jayson-tatum
Choosing between Jayson Tatum and Al Horford for the No. 1 spot is an exercise in futility. Both have equal claims to the throne. Consider them the 1 and 1A here.
Tatum and the Sixers will be intertwined throughout his entire NBA career thanks to the Colangelo Crime Family*. After the Sixers swapped their No. 5 pick with the Sacramento Kings’ No. 3 pick in the 2017 NBA draft (Sam Hinkie’s final parting gift to the organization), the Colangelos immediately messed it up by trading that pick along with a future first-rounder to the Celtics for No. 1, which they used on Markelle Fultz.
A rare shoulder injury and/or the Monstars caused Fultz to forget how to shoot upon his arrival in Philadelphia. He played only 33 regular-season games for the Sixers before they shipped him to the Orlando Magic for Jonathon Simmons, a 2019 second-round pick and a future first-round pick. (Thankfully, that first-rounder turned into Tyrese Maxey.)
We could go back and forth all day on the Sixers’ biggest mistakes of the post-Hinkie era. The aforementioned Fultz trade and trading away Mikal Bridges are certainly up there. But sign-and-trading Jimmy Butler to the Miami Heat for Josh Richardson and using that cap space to sign Al Horford to a four-year, $109 million contract has to be toward the top of those rankings as well.
*The "Colangelo Crime Family", may offend some snowflakes (I have some Italian/North Boston heritage), but that's pretty funny
https://www.libertyballers.com/2023/4/28/23702749/2023-nba-playoffs-haters-guide-to-boston-celtics-sixers-al-horford-jayson-tatum
There record was 12-5 iirc, but Harden's Achilles the big qualifier in my statement.
He has looked awful since they end of the regular season, and I don't see how they generate real offense if he's that guy.
And I cannot for the life of me think of a competitive rationale for the Sixers manufacturing or exaggerating an injury. Nonsense.
Embiid was on the floor a lot that game before the fall in the video above. Could the injury be a cumulative thing?
Could it have been initially a slight sprain, which got worse because he continued playing in that game?
Golden State’s bench destroyed Boston’s in Finals after Game 1. Boston’s roster was short one playoff rotation quality player, and it lead to two series going seven games, and then the Finals loss. Yes, Tatum waa stymied by the Warriors’s scheme, but the pieces around him were not sufficient. I don’t think this year’s team will have that problem.
I’m not certain that that’s true. He turned 29 a month and a half ago and he has a pretty extensive injury history. While he’s still obviously in his prime, he might also be well into his back nine.
There's a reason Stevens went out and got Brogdon (and Gallinari to a lesser extent). Plus White now has a much more prominent role in the rotation and is playing with a lot more confidence. And even the Rob Williams of the last couple of Atlanta games is still far better than the TL we saw in last year's playoffs.
And Hauser has proved to be playoff rotation worthy and give us a reasonable facsimile of Gallinari.
I don't know that it counts as a competitive rationale, but Doc has always been one for a good excuse after his annual postseason disappointment. Lowered expectations.
Oh, yeah, I could see that - I should’ve explicitly noted that was why I used the ‘competitive’ qualifier. Doc indulging in his self-preservation instinct has no bearing on what the Celtics will do from a game planning or personnel perspective, is my point (and I think we agree).
While every article i read about this matchup seems to mention how many times these teams have played each other in the playoffs, this author seems to think that the NBA started in 2016. I hope he writes another article about the historical roots of the sixers fanbase’s hatred of the Celtics. It adds a lot more depth then just complaining about Smart’s hair color.
Good point.It is sort of crazy. The first year Embiid played most of the regular season games and/or made the playoffs was Tatum’s rookie season. He played 31 in the 2017 season.
Embiid has played 394 regular season games and 47 playoff games. Tatum is at 439 and 80.
Embiid is 29.1 years old, Tatum is 25.2.
All-NBA WingZ - 1
All-NBA BigZ - 0
Standing under the rim protecting it can be hazardous to your health with 5 NBA players launching themselves at the hoop.
Jaylen Brown 470/91
I think Tatum's shoulder was a bigger issue than his wrist in that series, which further supports your point.
I'm curious who the guy is. No one in Harden's crew seems at all concerned about Harden's safety so it feels like they know him. If this is someone employed by Harden, weak ass slap or not, that is still a pretty terrible thing to do. If this is just one of his boys, well then I'm sure they can work it out on their own.
Everything is fine:
View: https://twitter.com/shamscharania/status/1653048086489624578?s=42&t=-Ai-mpXJJ05V-SE-SPRBGA
I mean that in, like, the dog and fire picture thing kinda way.
View: https://twitter.com/shamscharania/status/1653048086489624578?s=42&t=-Ai-mpXJJ05V-SE-SPRBGA
I mean that in, like, the dog and fire picture thing kinda way.
He didn't get PRP for an LCL. There's some bigtime subterfuge going on somewhere. It's either not an LCL or the PRP thing is a total smokescreen.
My guess is manageable meniscus tear that requires cleanup in the offseason, and he's limited but plays most if not all of the games. And Doc is working overtime to plant false stories.
Also, PRP (at least this is how it’s worked twice for me) can make things worse for about a week before it gets better. They essentially reinjure you a little bit, then augment your body’s response.
And I was told PRP works best on older injuries your body couldn’t quite fully heal, plus repetitive stress type injuries like tennis elbow. Kinda weird for a “new” LCL sprain for sure.
It’s sad but I agree with you. By all accounts, Doc is a really good guy off the floor…but he really seems like a gigantic weasel on the floor and with the media.
My guess is that Embiid isn’t 100% but is also more capable than these recent stories claim. I think this is mostly a ploy to give Doc a built in excuse when they lose (an additional one because you know he’s also going to bring up the Harden Achilles thing too)
no player in the league has his agent working harder on rep than Embiid. Every injury is "oh he is going to miss a ton of time" "it's worse than grade 1... so grade 2? No, just worse than grade 1", "oh he got PRP, but he's gonna try and go".
I assume he plays game 1.
I also assume if they lose this series Shams has like 8 articles on how bad Embiid was hurt.
I assume he plays game 1.
I also assume if they lose this series Shams has like 8 articles on how bad Embiid was hurt.
I know peeps hate him, but Skip Bayless this morning said he has an inside source on the Sixers who says it's worse than they thought a week ago and they took an MRI yesterday was "not good." There's a small tear somewhere that will likely require surgery.
Note that radsoxfan has been saying all along the reported injury, play where it happened, and timeline do not sync up. Look forward to his take on the PRP 'story' and imagine it only reinforces his belief there's more to this (or at least, 'different to this') than we've heard.
I suspect they shut down Joel for good after tonight
From the 76ers perspective:
1. Creates a nice excuse
2. Limited mobility and unconditioned Embiid is pedestrian
3. Doesn't further complicate whatever Joel has going on in his knee
4. They get to see Harden operate on his own to see if he is really worth a MAX deal that he will demand
5. Boston was always a bad matchup, back to the drawing board this off-season. Morey is pretty good at roster building.
From the 76ers perspective:
1. Creates a nice excuse
2. Limited mobility and unconditioned Embiid is pedestrian
3. Doesn't further complicate whatever Joel has going on in his knee
4. They get to see Harden operate on his own to see if he is really worth a MAX deal that he will demand
5. Boston was always a bad matchup, back to the drawing board this off-season. Morey is pretty good at roster building.
If his knee risks long term injury they’ll shut him down but they’re not shutting him down for any reason other than that. The #1 in the conference is out there’s no way they’re punting on these playoffs because they don’t like their matchup against Boston thats crazy to suggest
Yeah, I don’t see how they convince him to sit absent that. He’s consistently played through injuries in past playoffs, and I see no reason he won’t try to do it again unless the training staff, and perhaps even an outside physician, tells him he would be risking his career.