PHILADELPHIA–The Philadelphia 76ers have played the Boston Celtics twice to begin the preseason and they both have been losses. There have been stretches where they look really good and other stretches where they have struggled.
In Wednesday’s 112-101 loss to the Celtics in preseason action, the issue was the defensive end. A lot of Boston’s guards were able to get to the rim and finish with relative ease. That is something that coach Nick Nurse is not happy about.
“I think the biggest thing is, the ones I don’t like is when we get beat up all the way to the basket,” said Nurse. “Like we’re not getting blown by, but we’re kind of just getting boom, boom, boom, hit, and at some point, the physicality of how can we make a play on that? How can we at least make it a harder shot at the end of that? We certainly need to address that.”
The Celtics shot 16-for-44 from deep on the night, and while it is just a preseason game, a lot of those looks were wide-open. The perimeter defense has to be better going forward.
“C-plus, B-minus,” added Danny Green of how he’d grade the team’s defense. “We got a long way to go. It’s mostly to communicate and keep playing. We have times we have lapses. We hang our head. Guys don’t get back, it leads to an open 3. Communication leaving the guy open for a 3. Tonight, we had too many of those where guys are open. Just wide for long periods of time.”
This is a brand new coaching staff introducing a brand new system and it’s something the Sixers are looking to get used to as they move forward under Nurse and the staff. Philadelphia will be looking to continue working on getting everybody on the same page.
“We got to get back to getting back, playing, communicating, and make sure everybody’s matched up on bodies,” Green added. “Especially, with how this league and how many attempts they like to shoot from the perimeter. So we’re gonna do a better job of just staying on our P’s and Q’s.”
With that being said, there are two preseason games left. The Sixers have plenty of time to get their act together and move forward on the defensive end of the floor.
“Team defense, it can be a lot better,” added Paul Reed. “I’ll say that for sure. It’s not where it needs to be yet, but it’s the preseason. We’re still working on getting better. It’s our first time really playing against other people so we’re still working on getting better, but it hasn’t been the best. I think we all know that. I think we can all see where we can get better and everybody’s still learning. Still learning each other so it’s a process, but I’m confident we’ll figure it out before the season starts.”
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