Simmons was exposed!!!! PROCESS THAT!!!

[Fafnir]

Playing Giannis first round was the best thing for this team. Really taken our defensive commitment to a higher level. Makes game-planning vs. guys like Simmons, even Embid, easy by comparison.

Yeah Giannis/Simmons are both vulnerable to a similar defenisve strategy and the practice of it for 7 games is paying dividends for the C's right now.

Simmons will bounce back, he' a rookie and is prone to some bad games that is normal. Tatum in games 2/5 of the first round also had pretty bad games with 4 pts and 8 pts respectively. He bounced back in game 6 and has kept it rolling.

C's need to play great to get a win in Philly.

[KGBirdBias]

Celtics collapse the lane and shadow Simmons. Horford defended him 27 times and Smart 19 and the others were divided among 3 other guys. Stevens is switching different types of defenders on him and I think its confused him. I'm just shocked that he didn't go make anything happen when he didn't have the ball with his skillset. Now he may start pressing and pick up charging fouls. Teams will take this as a blueprint for next year. He better get in the gym and get a ton of shots up.  He'll bounce back before the series is over though.

I really enjoy watching Embiid. He knows when to finesse you, when to use his strength on you and is cat quick. I'd love to see him play Shaq in his day. Shaq had nowhere near the skills Embiid does.

I keep saying Brett Brown isn't the long term answer. He's keeping it warm for someone else. Why isn't Fultz playing? He has to let Simmons and Fultz learn ON THE COURT. Stop coddling those guys.

[Fafnir]

Fultz isn't playing because he was over matched and not ready for the playoffs against the Heat. He only played in 10 regular season games to end the season.

He gave him run in Games 1/2/3 and except in game 1 when they 76ers were blowing the Heat out he was lost.

Its not fair to Fultz, McConnell, or the team to play Fultz in this environment unless McConnell is struggling or hurt himself.

[screwedupmaniac]

I have always seen Simmons as an improved version of Lamar Odom, not the second coming of LeBron.

[Fafnir]

I have always seen Simmons as an improved version of Lamar Odom, not the second coming of LeBron.

Interesting comparison, I like it.

Though an improved Odom is an All-NBA player, because even though he didn't make the all-star team I think Odom was an all-star level player for several years of his career.

[screwedupmaniac]

I definitely think Simmons will get there.  He's in over his head in a playoff series against Boston, but has plenty of room to grow.

[GreenShooter]

Simmons must have seen Shaq's feet and it totally threw him off his game. It's nothing the Celtics did. Maybe someone should make a big poster and haunt Simmons with it. I know my eyesight was damaged for life from that gruesome scene.

[Phantom255x]

The game plan for the most part is to keep Simmons and Embiid outside the paint.

Embiid may still be able to hit some jumpers or open look 3s, but not consistently.

We almost got killed by Reddick and Covington yesterday, so we still have to tighten the perimeter defense a little. In Game 1, Larkin kept chasing Reddick around the perimeter and was successful there. Maybe we should play Larkin a little more against Reddick?

[jpotter33]

I have always seen Simmons as an improved version of Lamar Odom, not the second coming of LeBron.

Interesting comparison, I like it.

Though an improved Odom is an All-NBA player, because even though he didn't make the all-star team I think Odom was an all-star level player for several years of his career.

Odom could actually shoot a little bit, though. He averaged for his career over 2 three point attempts a game at 31%, which is below average but still somewhat of a threat out there.

Simmons doesn’t even really attempt to shoot outside of the paint, let alone from three. He’s 0-11 from three point land this year, and most of those were probably late quarter heaves.

I see him as a bigger, better scoring at the rim Rondo.

[kozlodoev]

I see him as a bigger, better scoring at the rim Rondo.

That's what I was thinking too.

Btw, his shot chart is telling me that every single of his 12 threes (except perhaps one or two) were halfcourt heaves (I mean, BBRef only classifies shots from beyond half court as heaves, but the 4 threes he did attempt in the frontcourt largely don't look like real shots).

https://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/shooting.fcgi?player_id=simmobe01&year_id=2018&shot_distance=3P

[nickagneta]

Simmons had 998 field goals attempted this year. 11 were three points. 28 were outside 16 feet. He made 0 three pointers and hit only 11 shots outside of 16'. He is a terrible free throw shooter at 56%

Think about that. Almost exactly 1000 shots. Only 11 made from outside of 16'.

Simmons can't shoot outside of the paint and he knows it so avoids it like the plague. This makes him very easy to defend. You deny and cut off the paint, forcing him to overthink and go into an offense he doesn't want to play. If he makes it into the paint, foul him hard so he can't make the shot and force him to the line. In close games, late, play hack-a-Ben and let him miss FTs to get yourself back into the game or get him removed from the game.

[fairweatherfan]

The knock on Simmons pre-draft was...well the no-jumper thing, but the other knock was that he shrunk from big moments.  Watching the replay that's what it seemed like happened last night - our defenders got up in him early and he got more and more passive.  His body language was AWFUL at times.

This is why I didn't think Philly was ready for a series like this. Too inexperienced at a playoff team punching them in the mouth. For Simmons and the team it's a big test of whether they can reassert themselves at home. Let's hope they figure it out some other year.

[celticinorlando]

Simmons and Giannis both will not take the next step until they can make the mid range and 3 consistently.

[green_bballers13]

Simmons and Giannis both will not take the next step until they can make the mid range and 3 consistently.

I'm not sure if they'll ever be consistent shooters, but any incremental progress will be welcomed. They're still special players, even if they never improve.

I was waiting for the overreaction thread following a 1 point game. If people are starting to doubt him after two games, I'm def. buying some of that stock.

[chicagoceltic]

I have always seen Simmons as an improved version of Lamar Odom, not the second coming of LeBron.

Interesting comparison, I like it.

Though an improved Odom is an All-NBA player, because even though he didn't make the all-star team I think Odom was an all-star level player for several years of his career.

Odom could actually shoot a little bit, though. He averaged for his career over 2 three point attempts a game at 31%, which is below average but still somewhat of a threat out there.

Simmons doesn’t even really attempt to shoot outside of the paint, let alone from three. He’s 0-11 from three point land this year, and most of those were probably late quarter heaves.

I see him as a bigger, better scoring at the rim Rondo.

Regarding the highlighted before, how on earth is that possible in todays NBA?  To me that is a stunning stat of the day.