Philly is going to play slow in any case. The pace of game 1 was 91 (possessions per 48 min). They play slow. They had an average pace of 90.5 vs. BNK in the first round.
To me, it doesn't matter so much whether Embiid plays or not. Not that he doesn't make them better, I feel he does, he can take over a game, just like Harden did in game 1. But we lost because of 16 turnovers. If we take care of the ball, play our game, we can beat Philly with or without Embiid.
I broke this down on another thread. I think because Embiid wasn't there in game 1, we took it to the hoop more over kicking out for 3s. Taking it to the hoop is good if you finish (which we did at a reasonable clip) or draw a foul (we drew some but not all that many). Forcing it to the hoop can also lead to more turnovers though, which is what happened in game 1.
Now that Embiid is back, players will probably be less likely to take it to the hoop and challenge. But that is not what is important. We need to reduce turnovers. That means playing more in control. You need to find the sweet spot. You want to be aggressive but not reckless. It can be a fine line in the playoffs. We need to still push, still take it to the rim when it is there, but not overdo it and have too many turnovers again. PHI had 14 more shot attempts than us last game (in a 91 possession game). That is too much to overcome.
Topic: 76ers (1-0) at Celtics (0-1) Round 2 Game #2 5/3/23 (Read 20089 times)