Celtics (3-2) at 76ers (2-3) Round 1 Game 6 4/30/26

[Jiri Welsch]

Two of these things happen and we win:

1. Shoot above 38% from three
2. Keep Embiid and Maxey below 50 points combined
3. Derrick White and Payton Pritchard combine for 35 points
4. Fewer than 10 turnovers

And we win

[Redz]

Weird little oddity...The Celtics and Bruins series have followed the same pattern of wins/losses for home and road teams. Hopefully that pattern ends tonight or someone is going to be very disappointed.

[slamtheking]

Two of these things happen and we win:

1. Shoot above 38% from three
2. Keep Embiid and Maxey below 50 points combined
3. Derrick White and Payton Pritchard combine for 35 points
4. Fewer than 10 turnovers

And we win

1. Shoot above 38% from three   --> considering the team's swings on this, it's probable
2. Keep Embiid and Maxey below 50 points combined --> I'd drop this to 40.  Philly has several other players that can provide offense as we've seen so far so we'd need to really force those other players to really score.
3. Derrick White and Payton Pritchard combine for 35 points  --> don't see this happening unless PP goes for 25+ himself.
4. Fewer than 10 turnovers  --> wishful thinking.  they're just way too sloppy this series.

I think we're going to win based on other factors:
- C's in the J's era have always been a tougher team on the road than home.
- Highly unlikely the C's shoot that poorly 2 games in a row. 
- While Joe sucks at in-game adjustments, he should be able to come up with a plan to begin this game that will address the issues with defending Philly that came up in the last game.  this could range from doubling Embiid down low and hoping Philly goes back to being ice cold from deep or screaming at Q that he has to be smarter with fouling.  C's are better if Embiid has to actually shoot the ball to make a basket than having Q try to stop the bucket with a dumb foul.  Embiid may make some or most of those shots but it'll keep Q available for most if not all of the game.  This could also involve playing more Walsh and Hugo to defend Maxie/George/Edgecombe as well as more Baylor if Sam isn't hitting his shots.  It could also involve more Garza time in place of Vuc who was useless on D and sucked on offense.  Garza may not be much, if any, improvement on defense but he'll make Embiid work for those defensive boards as well as have to defend Garza as far out as the 3 point  line.

[Phantom255x]

I almost wonder if you're better off starting with Vucevic and Garza at the beginning to try and neutralize Queta's foul troubles for later in the game. Because if he comes out and again picks up 2 quick fouls to begin the game, it'll just set the tone in a bad way. Ultimately you might as well just let Embiid get his, and try to defend the perimeter well while hoping the 3s are falling for you. The C's have no answer for Embiid this season and Horford is gone, so you'll have to pick your poison.

Also, Baylor needs to be out there more than Hauser. Baylor offers them more defensively and has been shooting well in his limited minutes too. There was a lot of stuff that went bad in Game 5, but overall Hauser was a -21 with 2 turnovers. Not good. Hauser might benefit coming off the bench with PP and playing opposing teams' second units, but there are times he looks toast out there especially when the 3s aren't falling.

[boscel33]

Hugo on Embid tonight.  Count it!

https://hardwoodhoudini.com/celtics-making-hugo-gonzalez-change-alter-their-reality-guard-centers-heat-adebayo-ware

[SparzWizard]

I almost wonder if you're better off starting with Vucevic and Garza at the beginning to try and neutralize Queta's foul troubles for later in the game. Because if he comes out and again picks up 2 quick fouls to begin the game, it'll just set the tone in a bad way. Ultimately you might as well just let Embiid get his, and try to defend the perimeter well while hoping the 3s are falling for you. The C's have no answer for Embiid this season and Horford is gone, so you'll have to pick your poison.

Also, Baylor needs to be out there more than Hauser. Baylor offers them more defensively and has been shooting well in his limited minutes too. There was a lot of stuff that went bad in Game 5, but overall Hauser was a -21 with 2 turnovers. Not good. Hauser might benefit coming off the bench with PP and playing opposing teams' second units, but there are times he looks toast out there especially when the 3s aren't falling.

Deploy the LeBron strategy. Let Embiid beat you but cover everyone else. Especially Maxey, VJ, and George.

But also, White and Hauser needs to snap out of whatever funk they're on especially the former.

[celticinorlando]

Tonight needs to be treated like a game 7 by the Celtics. Twice now in this series they have literally given a late December effort.