The Philadelphia 76ers are getting set to take on the Boston Celtics on Monday to finally begin the 2020 NBA Playoffs. Even without Ben Simmons, the team feels confident that they can get the job done in the playoffs and that is due to Joel Embiid.
The big fella was having an impressive start to the bubble in terms of dominating in the post and passing out of the waves of double teams sent his way, but an ankle injury set him back a bit. Coach Brett Brown was still very happy with what he saw out of his big man.
“I’m happy with him rolling,” Brown explained. “The balance because he can shoot. So in the balance of him doing that versus pick-and-pop is at times a challenge because he’s good at it, but I think tilting it more towards the roll versus the pop interests me a lot and I think he’s done a great job at that.”
The passing out of the post is a big thing. Too many times would teams send a myriad of defenders toward Embiid and he would wilt under the pressure and throw a bad pass that would then snowball into multiple turnovers. In the bubble, he did a good job of commanding the ball and getting stuff done down low other than the matchup with the Toronto Raptors.
“His low post presence is all connected, him commanding the ball is all connected, and I think short of the last game, I thought he was a steady ‘A’ passing out of the post,” Brown added. “Probably Toronto got the better of us passing out of the post the last game.”
On top of that, the Embiid and Al Horford pairing was re-introduced due to the fact that Simmons got hurt and they also had some success on the floor in their limited time together. If they can carry that offensive success into the playoffs, it makes things that much more interesting against Boston.
“As a backup 5, you’re not going to get much better,” Brown said of Horford. “As a starting 4, playing with Joel, I’ve been really happy with the pairing, although they haven’t played a ton because of Joel’s injury. When they have played, I like it. I think Al’s versatility defensively is the thing that stands out the most in regards in what does he do defensively. The fact that he can switch, he can move his feet, he’s smart, he can guard a perimeter guy better than most centers. To have him with us and ironically, matching up with his old team, the Celtics. I think that’s a story within a story. We’re excited to play Boston.”
Game 1 is Monday in what promises to be an exciting series. [lawrence-related id=36828,36825,36822]