The Philadelphia 76ers host the Boston Celtics in Game 4 on Sunday, looking to even the series after a physical Game 3 loss.
After splitting the first two games in Boston, the Sixers dropped a physical Game 3, with the Celtics taking the series lead. Sunday’s matchup is expected to follow a similar tone.
Who: Boston Celtics (2-1) at Philadelphia 76ers (1-2)
When: 7 p.m. ET
Where: Xfinity Mobile Arena, Philadelphia, Pa.
Watch: NBC, Peacock
The Sixers are doing all they can, and the fight they've shown against the Celtics so far has been admirable. VJ Edgecombe has played well in his first season and the first few playoff games of his career, but he shouldn't be leading the team in rebounding. If Edgecombe is leading the team on the glass, something is off in the frontcourt. His 17.7 points, 7.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.7 steals per game are wonderful, but if he's battling for rebounds, it means someone isn't doing their job properly, which pulls him away from his primary role. The Sixers need much more from their interior frontcourt.
Tyrese Maxey has continued to lead the team, but his shooting woes have persisted for quite a while, and they could stem from his attempts to do too much on the court. Maxey and Edgecombe combined to shoot just 5-of-20 on their three-point attempts on Thursday, and if they just hit at their normal rates, the result of the game would have been much different. The Sixers have to find a way, despite missing Joel Embiid, to rebound much better and move the ball in a more decisive, more predictable manner, rather than the freewheeling passes they've shown early in the series.
Despite an offseason full of uncertainty, the Celtics have looked like one of the league’s top teams all season, and they’ve carried that into this series. The team goes about their business; they do what they've practiced and do not waver in their goal or in their plans for how to win. It's been successful all season, and that was before Jayson Tatum showed back up.
Tatum tore his Achilles tendon in last season's playoffs and was lost for what should've been an entire year. He returned to play 16 games at the end of the Celtics season, and while his stats were there, his body needed to get in better basketball shape.
It's not something that you would think he'd be able to pull off that quickly, yet here we are three games into the playoffs, and he's been the best player on the team and for most of the series, the entire court. He's leading the Celtics with 38 minutes per game, second in scoring at 23 points per game, and is still managing 10 rebounds and 7.7 assists. For one of the top teams in the league to make that type of addition late in the season is unheard of and has made the Celtics the favorites in the Eastern Conference.
With Kelly Oubre Jr. listed as questionable, head coach Nick Nurse is going to have to figure out how to utilize Justin Edwards, Dominick Barlow, Quentin Grimes, and Trendon Watford to slow down the Celtics. Four players spent over 40 minutes on the court in the last game; it's not hard to see how Maxey's late-game attempted heroics fell just short. The team needs some sort of rotation beyond just eight players, because right now it's starting to hurt them. The answer can't be to survive until Embiid returns.
As with any team in the league, if you don't shoot the ball well, then you're going to have a hard time winning games. Despite that poor shooting in Game 3, the Sixers were still close at the very end. If they can continue the style of play they've had over the past two games and get back on track with their shooting, they could pull off a huge upset as the team awaits the return of their biggest star.
A smartly timed rotation, direction for the offense, and focus on the interior are the keys to a Sixers victory tonight, but the question remains: Do they have enough left in the tank to even the series?
