The Boston Celtics are in Philadelphia fighting for their season in Game 6. Boston got outplayed by Philadelphia from the start of Game 5, and got down as much as 21 points en route to a 115-103 loss. According to FanDuel Sportsbook, the Celtics are 2.5-point favorites.
Spread: Boston Celtics -2.5
O/U: 212.5 points
ML: Celtics -138, 76ers +118
Joel Embiid 25+ points, James Harden 20+ points, Tyrese Maxey 2+ made threes, Al Horford 2+ made threes
Danilo Gallinari (ACL) is out for Boston.
Joel Embiid (knee) is questionable, as he’s been for every game he’s played this series. There’s practically no chance he would sit out tonight’s contest.
PG: Marcus Smart
SG: Derrick White
SF: Jaylen Brown
PF: Jayson Tatum
C: Al Horford
PG: James Harden
SG: Tyrese Maxey
SF: Tobias Harris
PF: PJ Tucker
C: Joel Embiid
After a brutal overtime loss, the Celtics’ offense arguably was flatter than it did at the start of Game 4. A lot of that comes back to Jayson Tatum, who’s now a combined 4-20 shooting in the first half of the past two games. He never really found any rhythm in game 5, but in both of the aforementioned games, Tatum had a lot more success attacking the basket, barreling through defenders and cutting without the ball for easy shot opportunities. With the Celtics needing him more than ever, look to see if Tatum adopts this strategy early in the game rather than waiting until he’s ice cold.
On defense, the team also has to be better guarding the pick and roll with James Harden and Joel Embiid. Their strategy in Game 5 was to completely take away Harden’s ability to penetrate, which allowed Embiid to flare out for open foul line jumpers, shots he knocked down at a high rate. At this point in the series, it’s not like Joe Mazzulla is going to pull out a completely new defense to stump the Sixers, but mixing up the looks they show to Philadelphia will be key in disrupting that offensive flow.
The 76ers almost played a perfect game on the road, keeping their foot on the gas and answering every time the home team started to crawl back into it. Still, there were a few spots, namely late in the 2nd quarter and early in the 4th, where Philadelphia gifted the Celtics a golden opportunity to make the game competitive (and this doesn’t include the 9-0 run they allowed to the end of Boston’s bench). The team’s 9 turnovers and 24 fouls came at inopportune times, and more lapses tonight can come back to haunt them.
Aside from that though, there’s not much to address. The big thing for tonight is can they replicate what they did in Boston? Specifically, can Tobias Harris and Tyrese Maxey give the Sixers the same scoring boost. Maxey had 30 points, 7 rebounds, and some massive threes in the 4th. Harris had a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds, putting together his only performance of the series where you could feel his impact. If the Sixers get reliable production once again from their third and fourth option, they have a stronger chance of knocking out the Celtics tonight, and they may be poised for a Finals berth.
It’s cliché, but whoever wants this one more will win Game 6. After two tough losses, that team should be the Celtics, right? I find it hard to believe Boston will go down this easy. I do think the Sixers will keep up their high level of play, but ultimately, it will get to a Game 7. From there, the series can really go either way.
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