Brett Brown trying to keep Sixers believing they can beat Celtics

Brett Brown attempts to instill a confidence and a belief that the Philadelphia 76ers can beat the Boston Celtics.

[jwplayer p05AMiil-z6KDnl0B]

The Philadelphia 76ers came into this series with the Boston Celtics as major underdogs. They knew that coming in as they had to go into this series without the services of one of their best players in Ben Simmons while Boston boasted three 20+ point scorers on their roster.

Two games into this playoff series, coach Brett Brown has a dilemma on his hands. He has to keep his team believing they can win this series despite getting blown out in Game 2 on Wednesday night where they saw a 14 point lead turn into a 28 point deficit.

“You make sure you hold the spirit of a locker room,” said Brown. “You make sure that the group understands there’s enough character and there’s enough talent in the room to regroup. If we’re playing it like it’s normal, you’d be going back to Philadelphia and they did what they should have and the message is some level of belief. What I said I mean. I think there is enough character and there’s enough talent in the room to respond.”

Even without Simmons, it is not like the Sixers don’t have talent. Joel Embiid is one of the best players in this league regardless of position and Tobias Harris and Al Horford are good–albeit grossly overpaid–players. There is enough for Philadelphia to at least be competitive in this series and their effort in Game 2 just was not there in order to win a playoff game. It almost seems like the team is defeated already.

“I think that it has to start with me,” Brown added. “I think that when you look in the locker room, you’re going to the inevitable people in Joel and Tobias and Al and I think at that point, there are other people that are going to have to come along. There’s no doubt, you feel the pain without Ben to point, but I feel what I said to be true. I think there’s enough character and enough talent in the locker room to respond and I feel like that needs to start from me. I sure need help from the three players especially that I just mentioned and I believe it’s within them.”

Brown can instill that spirit and the belief all he wants, but until the Sixers figure out how to make adjustments against Jayson Tatum and the rest of the Celtics wings, they will not win this series. There is not enough offense right now that can match up with Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Kemba Walker.

Especially when Harris and Horford, two of their top guys on the payroll are playing as poorly as they are right now.

“I think that there has been enough success, not consistently in the bubble, where you can call upon things without Ben you can point to that are real,” Brown finished with. “It’s up to me to recognize those things to point them out in a real way and help them get through this. I do believe that the locker room feels they have a helluva lot more to give.”

Game 3 is Friday night inside the bubble where the Sixers already look dead in the water. [lawrence-related id=36994,36984,36965]