The three point shooting of the 76ers will push the Boston Celtics defense to new limits
The Boston Celtics saw their defense pushed to the limit against the Milwaukee Bucks. Everything transformed when Marcus Smart returned to the lineup, but if they were not able to slow down the Bucks from three point range, the Philadelphia 76ers could destroy them from deep.
Khris Middleton was the biggest problem, but the Bucks were often able to get good shooting across the board, against the best three point defense from the regular season. The Bucks ended up shooting 37.7 percent overall against the Celtics, and that mark was all the way over 46 percent before Smart got back. With Jaylen Brown out of the lineup, the Celtics cannot anticipate their defense being at their best.
The 76ers actually shot worse than the Bucks, hitting 36.3 percent of their threes in the first round, but that is even more concerning, because of what it says about Boston’s defense. The 76ers have much better shooters than the Bucks, with legitimate threats everywhere outside of Ben Simmons.
A front court consistenting of Dario Saric and Joel Embiid will push any defense to their limits. Add on Ersan Ilyasova and they have the depth to break you as well. The front court is the most difficult to account for, but you also have J.J Redick, Marco Belinelli and Robert Covington all running around as legitimate threats as well.
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The Celtics know how good their three point defense can be, but they also know how much better it has to be than the first round. The 76ers were the highest scoring team in the first round, and if the Celtics do not shut down their shooting, it will be tough for them to hang around in this series.
The first round against Milwaukee made it clear that the Celtics cannot take anything for granted on the shooting front. Boston should have had a clear advantage on both ends from deep, but they struggled just to match the Bucks. It was only after they stopped pressing the issue from three that they saw success, and it would be foolish to try and just outshoot the 76ers, who want the much streakier Celtics to challenge them in just that way.
The odd part in playing the 76ers is that their one non shooter is what opens everything up. Simmons has been masterful at finding the open theee point shooters, and these guys always function together to create a dynamic attack that cannot be accounted for by any individuals.
Stopping the three pointer begins with disrupting Simmons, and that is where the Celtics defense will be pushed the most. The good news is that the Celtics are as equipped as any team to defend him with Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown. For now, it will have to be done with just Smart, and if he cannot disrupt the ball movement there will not be much the Celtics can do to slow down to many great outside shooters.
The Celtics know they have to win this game with defense and they cannot hope to outscore this 76ers team. The Celtics need to lean on their defense to win, and there is no doubt the three point attack of the 76ers is the most difficult thing for them to account for, and will be a bigger challenge than anything they had to face in round one.
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Three point shooting is always going to be a major factor no matter who the Celtics are playing, and they need to be able to depend on their biggest strength. The Celtics need to get back to the best three point defense in the league, but the 76ers will be the toughest team to shut down from deep in the East.