As the Philadelphia 76ers prepare to take on the Boston Celtics on Monday to begin their 2020 playoff run, they will need to use the one advantage they have to get the job done. The Sixers have been counted out in the series due to the fact that they do not have Ben Simmons, but there are ways to get it done.
The two biggest ways they can defeat the Celtics are by using their size and physicality down low and out on the perimeter.
Boston is highlighted by the fact that their wings can score in a lot of different ways. For the Sixers to have a shot of winning this series, they are going to have to get into them by being physical with guys like Matisse Thybulle, Josh Richardson, and Tobias Harris.
“They’re a team that gets up a high volume of threes,” sais Harris. “For us, it’s our physicality and making sure those are tougher looks than being in motion, rhythm type shots. Those would be the two biggest things for us, physicality and pushing them off to different looks. Other than that, we know they’re talented. They have a lot of talented wings who can score the ball and it’s all about our physicality going into this series, for sure.”
In terms of their offense, it will be up to Joel Embiid to dominate down low. This is the series where he is going to have to establish a real presence on the low block while getting to the foul line, passing well out of the double teams, and have consistently big games to give the Sixers a shot.
“We’re going to use some of our strengths which is our size,” said Harris with a smile. “We have the most dominant big man in the game so using Joel on the block and have him go to work. That’s about all the intel I can give you right now.”
Philadelphia’s bugaboo in the past has always been the number of turnovers. There have been plenty of times when the Sixers would commit a lot of dumb turnovers and that would then throw their offense out of rhythm and the opposition would get easy buckets. Boston feasts on those opportunities as well as open looks from deep so Philadelphia will have to use their few advantages to be sure the Celtics don’t get those chances.
“I would say huge,” coach Brett Brown said of the physicality. “This specific thing about one shot defense and just being great on the defensive boards is a part of that belief I have. It’s within us. We’re not a small team. I feel like this series, when we go back and look at the outcome of this series when it’s all said and done, I think it’s going to be one of the telling points of somebody winning and somebody losing.”
Game 1 is Monday at 6:30 p.m. EST from inside the Orlando bubble. [lawrence-related id=36870,36865,36862]