The Philadelphia 76ers head into Friday night’s Game 3 against the Boston Celtics with their backs against the wall. They are missing Ben Simmons, they have been struggling defensively, and they have not gotten much offensive production out of anybody not named Joel Embiid.
In order to get more out of his group, coach Brett Brown is planning on trying to play a little faster on offense to try and get more out of others, specifically with Tobias Harris who is shooting 34.5% from the floor and he is 0-for-5 from deep in the series.
“You feel it without Ben, we talk about defense, you also feel the pain of lack of pace,” explained Brown. “Offensively, you’re reminded just what a runaway train he is playing with the pace and the size that he is and I think we need to reclaim some level of open-court play.”
The Sixers have been focusing so much on halfcourt offense and dumping the ball down to Embiid that it has hurt others. The big fella has been impressive, he is averaging 30 points and 13 rebounds in this series, but key players in Harris and Al Horford have struggled.
“We need to not play classic playoff basketball where you dribble it up, call a play, force Joel, and think there’s going to be enough points generated in that environment to win,” Brown added. “The low number of threes is very connected to pace and so I hope that that can open up things for Tobias. We all get where our bread is buttered as it relates to the clearest ways for us to score and at times you’re reminded of simple things like pace and helping Tobias and Al.”
Even after makes, Brown wants the Sixers to push the ball. They should be able to use athletes such as Harris and Josh Richardson to be able to get out and run against the Celtics. There could be more pick-and-rolls the Sixers could use and there could be some of the offense from the older days in Friday’s game.
“Even after makes, this isn’t a miss thing, try to play with a level of side-to-side stuff. Really our offense the last two years was side-to-side pop JJ (Redick) here, Cov (Robert Covington ), Dario (Saric), it had that side-to-side pop and we need to find some level of pace, we need to find some level of side-to-side continuity. Not always trying to let Jo save the world. That environment can help others.”
Philadelphia will need to get a lot of help from others and then some in order to get themselves back in the series. The talent is there, they just need to kick it into high gear a bit. [lawrence-related id=37046,37041,37038]