Yeah I agree. It was a complete no-show from both a defensive effort view and shooting the 3 although you cannot completely disregard our efforts in running their shooters off the 3-point line.I think that we shouldn't celebrate the defensive game plan too much. Sure, they kept Simmons and Embiid from doing too much damage. And the transition defense was pretty damn solid.
But it was IMO pretty damn lucky that Philly was in the midst of a rusty brickfest last night. Plenty of good looks from three, from what I saw. They won't shoot that badly again.
The other thing about our transition defense is that it is real easy to defend the break when you are knocking down all your shots. It is those perimeter misses that lead to long rebounds and numbers the other way. The Sixers feast on their spot-up shooters knocking down these shots in a delayed break with the ball in Simmons hands......these opportunities are non-existent when we are shooting like we were last night.I didn't see many open looks for Reddick and Belinelli and I think that will continue. The C's know how dangerous they are and seem to be deciding to concede some twos from others in the interest of shutting the sharpshooters down. If Philly wants to win the series guys like Covington, Saric and Ilyasova will need to hit some threes. Possible, but not a certainty.
Game 2 is going to determine this series imo. I liked us to give the Sixers trouble in one of these first two but a loss on Thursday sets us up for an elimination Game 5, which was my original prediction. However, a Celtics win shows that the Sixers adjustments were not effective and that they would need to win at least one of the final two in Boston after failing in the obvious Game 2 bounce back spot.Winner of Game 2 goes to Philly with the series momentum.
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