Boston Celtics not letting Ben Simmons do anything

The Boston Celtics are containing Ben Simmons in a way that very few saw coming in this series

The Boston Celtics held home court and got their second playoff victory against the Philadelphia 76ers. For the second straight game Ben Simmons has struggled tremendously, and the defense being played on him looks like the most important part of this series right now.

Simmons finished with just one point, and had his first game without a field goal made. When you take into account how well secondary players J.J Redick and Robert Covington played, Simmons was the biggest difference in this one, and things are not going to get easier.

The Celtics are disrupting Simmons by throwing a lot of different looks at him, and he has not found an answer for any of them. Al Horford and Marcus Smart have shown off their versatility the most, but anyone who has taken the responsibility of guarding him has known what to do.

The Celtics are the first team to really exploit his inability to shoot. The Celtics have the strength to prevent him from pushing them around in the paint, and there are no free passing lanes for him to find. The game is the hardest it has even been for Simmons, and keeping that up could be the most important thing for the Celtics the rest of the way.

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Simmons has so many different ways of attacking a team, and he might be the most unique threat at point guard in the NBA. That being said, he still needs to figure out what he has to do in the playoffs, because teams know what they want to do in order to disrupt him. The Celtics are making sure Simmons cannot find any of the edges that made him so special this season, and they will be in a lot of trouble if he does not find something that works.

Part of the reason for their success on Simmons is because any time he find something that might work, they can adjust who is covering him in order to make whatever he found harder to accomplish. The Celtics know their success starts on defense, and slowing Simmons is the key to closing the overall offense of the 76ers.

Simmons is a special player and I would expect him to bounce back to a certain extent. That being said, this is the hardest basketball Simmons has played during his career, and he is being exploited on both ends right now.

The Celtics have kept Simmons uncomfortable in all situations in this series, but going back to Philly could change things. Simmons wants to make a statement after that game two performance, and it is truly do or die in game three.

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The Celtics have to expect a better Simmons, but that does not mean they will not be able to stop him. The Celtics need to be able to take whatever Simmons thinks he can attack them with, and shut it down the same way they’ve had over these last two games.

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