PHILADELPHIA — With their season on the line, the Boston Celtics switched strategies on Thursday in Game 6. They moved Robert Williams III into the starting lineup and Derrick White to the bench.
The move added size and another defensive presence on the floor. Boston could count on both Williams III and Al Horford to suffocate the Sixers on the offensive end.
Philadelphia shot 36.1% from the floor and 8-for-34 from deep in a 95-86 loss in Game 6. The Sixers couldn’t get clean looks at the basket and everything was contested.
However, Joel Embiid believes the two big men lineup did nothing to deter the Sixers.
“It didn’t,” said Embiid. “We missed a lot of shots. They’re shots I will take every single night. We missed a lot of wide-open shots tonight, and they made us pay for it. I mean, we only made eight 3s. Obviously, they made 15 of them. I thought that’s where the game was.”
Embiid has a point. Philadelphia had good looks, butweren’t able to capitalize. On top of that, the ball didn’t move as well as coach Doc Rivers would have liked against that taller lineup.
“Just ball movement,” Rivers said. “The ball didn’t move. I thought there were plenty of opportunities to swing, catch, get Joel the ball at the right spots on the elbow, and we just didn’t do it. I’ll watch the film and I’ll give you a better answer, but I don’t think we trusted. It didn’t matter what lineup. We didn’t score on any lineup tonight. We struggled scoring.”
Double big lineup for Boston: 19 minutes, 105.1 offensive rating, 80.0 defensive rating.
Absolutely suffocated the Sixers.
— Rich Hofmann (@rich_hofmann) May 12, 2023
The Sixers have two days off before Game 7 on Sunday up in Boston. That will give them an extra day to prepare and look to better attack the two big men lineup.
“We’ll watch film, we can get better, but honestly, this was a close game the entire game,” added James Harden. “Especially, in that second half. They made a couple 3s. We didn’t make the shots. If we make the shots, we win the game. Nothing more than that. It’s simple.”
Time will tell if it will be a simple game for the Sixers on Sunday.
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