Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- Boston's offense has collapsed under Philadelphia's defensive pressure, looking worse than it did in last year's playoffs.
- The Celtics' predictable isolation-heavy approach has been exploited, leaving stars isolated and bench contributions underutilized.
- A dominant interior presence has torn through Boston's defense, exposing critical weaknesses that could end their playoff run.
You know that old phrase, "hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard”? Well, the Boston Celtics are living that right now — and on the heels of their worst playoff loss this season, the Celtics are up against the wall in a way they couldn’t have imagined a week ago. Boston enters Saturday night's Game 7 on the verge of blowing a 3-1 lead to the Philadelphia 76ers, and over their two ugly losses in Games 5 and 6, Joe Mazzulla's once-fearsome offense has looked the worst it has since last year’s playoffs.
The barrage of 3-pointers this team still relies on is now hindering their ability to score. Their stars are playing like individuals rather than a team, and a glaring weakness is getting exposed by the one player Boston hasn’t really had a chance to game plan for. The Sixers’ offense has gone through the suddenly revitalized Joel Embiid, and it has torched Boston. It’s easy to defend the Celtics when you know what they’re going to do.
Everything feels disjointed right now. Jaylen Brown isolations that chew up 15-20 seconds of the shot clock. Then it's Jayson Tatum’s turn to try and get a shot on the next possession. The Celtics aren't able to get to the rim and break down Philly's defense, meaning that all those Derrick White and Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser 3-pointers aren't hitting the same. It’s a rinse-and-repeat offense that the Sixers have figured out. Mazzulla is now tasked with saving this team's season with major adjustments; if Boston doesn’t figure out its half-court offense, there’s going to be a lot of hard questions to ask this offseason.
How Boston’s predictable offense turned into its kryptonite
I’m not sure what’s tougher, winning a game with a predictable offense or trying to win a game without making adjustments. No matter how you slice it, the Celtics’ offense is holding them back. Brown and Tatum are good, but they aren’t good enough to win this series without help, at least in their current forms — Brown has looked like a shell of the guy we saw in the regular season, while Tatum is taking on far too big a load as he comes back from a torn Achilles and suffered a calf strain midway through Game 6. Playoff depth was always a question for this Boston team. It needs its starters to be elite, and without that, there aren't a ton of other answers.
In the regular season, this Celtics team could play nine or 10 players and get away with it. But in the playoffs, shortening the rotation is always the safer move to make. For Mazzulla, that can look a little different, like mixing in different lineups that allow for Tatum and Brown to alternate throughout the game rather than spending most of it on the court at the same time.
The duo have figured out how to play with each other at times, but this team won’t survive if both try to play iso-ball and refuse to run a fluid offense. Both players have a bad habit of taking terrible shots, and that’s what has hurt this team the most in the last two games. The Celtics are getting outplayed, out-coached and honestly looked outmatched by a less talented team.
It doesn’t help that the Celtics have no interior presence. When Robert Williams, Al Horford and even Kristaps Porzingis were in Boston, this team had a great inside-out center that helped on both ends. After the trade deadline, that became Nikola Vucevic’s job, a move which has backfired spectacularly. Neemias Queta isn’t bad, but he’s not ready for the Embiid assignment just yet.
Boston has to figure out how to stall Embiid while also generating some offense from its interior players. Otherwise, it will be the one thing that keeps them from making it out of the first round.
Why Joel Embiid’s return has been a bigger problem than Boston’s offensive struggles
What Embiid has brought to this 76ers team over the last two games might just change the narrative on his legacy. We know how good he is when he’s healthy, but he’s elevated this team in a way Tyrese Maxey never could. The attention Embiid garners makes him that important to Philadelphia. Maxey, Paul George and VJ Edgecombe haven’t changed much since Game 1, but adding Embiid to the mix has amplified their play.
When Embiid is rolling – which he has been since returning from an emergency surgery to address appendicitis – this team is unstoppable. A Celtics team that prides itself on defense can’t figure out how to defend inside. Vucevic isn’t the answer, and neither is Queta. Luka Garza has earned hustle points, but he's not athletic enough to slow Embiid down.
Embiid played in two regular-season games against Boston, both decided by one point. In one game, Embiid went for 20 points, and in the other he scored just four on 1-for-9 shooting. Whatever Boston did back then, it has to tap into tha again. If not, it will cost them a historic loss in the playoffs and force them to rebuild this team with tight financial straints.
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