[jwplayer 3iWQflki-z6KDnl0B]
When a team enters the playoffs without their best player and one of the elite defenders in the game in Ben Simmons, tough decisions must be made. That is what the Philadelphia 76ers face in their Round 1 matchup with the Boston Celtics.
The Celtics possess a lot of scoring talent in Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Kemba Walker, and with Philadelphia down one big defender, coach Brett Brown has to make a move.
So, coach Brown has had to roll with Al Horford defending Jaylen and the numbers say he did a solid job in Game 3 holding him to 1-for-6 shooting in their matchups per NBA Stats. Considering the obvious quickness advantage that Jaylen possesses in this individual matchup, the Sixers wanted to try and combat with that Horford’s size and physicality.
“If you go click-click-click and watch the tape, you’re going to see an overdose of shifts,” Brown explained. “Really, when you go through what the alternatives are, I feel like that’s the one I’m going to do. I feel like the schemes behind it where we can show a crowd, you had Joel dropping back off, I felt like from a resume standpoint, a toughness and experience standpoint that I wanted to do that.”
However, Horford committed a couple of big fouls late that helped the Celtics rally and steal the win. That is due to the aforementioned quickness advantage for Jaylen and Horford had to overcompensate a bit.
“I felt like from a schematic standpoint, we could absorb some of the problems Al got into with certain schemes,” Brown added. “I think if you go back and look at the first foul shooting a three was a foul, the second foul, I don’t believe it was, but in general, I think we could absorb the punishment that Jaylen would provide if you went by Al Horford.”
When Jaylen was defended by Josh Richardson, he shot 2-for-3 and he also shot 2-for-3 against Shake Milton and he scored five points against each player. He is just a tough matchup overall so the Sixers are doing all that they can.
Philadelphia now must find a way to get the necessary stops and figure out a way to close the game out on Sunday with their season on the line. [lawrence-related id=37081,37068,37065]