the obvious change to how Philly has fared in this series, other than Embiid's return, is the level of D that Philly plays. They've been all over the C's before they hit half court to slow them up and the C's aren't getting their usual open shots (and missing them when they do). The C's aren't pressuring Philly at all. They get the ball up the court as they please with more than enough time to get into their offense. C's apparently can't get through Philly screens whereas Philly can draw offensive fouls on C's screens.
this is on Joe. C's can't hit shots when they're open but Joe has no variations on offense other than bomb away so they're dying by the 3 under pressure.
This is where the lack of Jordan Walsh and Hugo Gonzales has hurt them in the series. Hugo hasn't played until today. J Walsh has been so bad offensively in this series that he is unplayable.
Those two guys are the defensive minded wings that fire up our defense. They have been missing in action.
Also, Queta. All the foul trouble. He is our only defensive able center. The foul trouble has limited how much he can play. Without him, there is nobody behind the perimeter players to clean up their mistakes (shot blocking, rim protection) so the perimeter guys take less risks as a result.
Topic: 76ers (3-3) at Celtics (3-3) Round 1 Game 7 5/2/26 (Read 11480 times)