Joel Embiid’s dominance proves Boston Celtics are in need of a presence in the post

The Boston Celtics dropped the second game of a back-to-back on Thursday when they fell to the Philadelphia 76ers. The loss proved what the Houdini has been saying all season: the big-man rotation is not up to snuff.

For the better part of the last decade, the Golden State Warriors were able to dominate the NBA on the strength of switch-heavy small-ball lineups. Unfortunately for the Boston Celtics, that strategy hasn’t worked to beat some of their potential Eastern Conference playoff foes–including the Philadelphia 76ers, who had their number again on Thursday night.

Draymond Green isn’t walking through that door. 

After losing to the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday on the road, the C’s had an excellent chance to right the ship with a home match-up against the only team to defeat them by double digits in 2019-20. Joel Embiid had other ideas.

The All-NBA center lit up the Boston Celtics front-line for a staggering 38 points, 13 rebounds and six assists. Simply put, he was a problem that the C’s currently do not have an answer for.

That in and of itself is a conundrum. With Kemba Walker signed to a four-year, max deal, the Celtics are in full-on win now mode. The roster built around him is geared for that–with one exception.

Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum are future stars who are becoming All-Stars now. Gordon Hayward has been efficient and active when healthy, and looks like the 2016-17 version that earned himself a max deal. Marcus Smart is a defensive menace, and his offense is slowly but surely catching up to his defense.

Those five players will determine whether or not the Celtics have a shot at a deep playoff run. Their center rotation, as it stands, will determine where that playoff run ends…because it doesn’t look like the team has enough down low to overcome behemoths like Embiid, Andre Drummond (who may find himself traded to a contender if the Pistons’ season continues to sour) or burgeoning Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo in a seven game series.

Daniel Theis has been solid in his role, but his ceiling is not high given his undersized frame and disappearing shooting touch. The game’s ending sequence saw him get emphatically denied at the rim–perhaps a metaphor for the team’s limited ceiling. Enes Kanter, while dominant against the Sixers (10-13 shooting, 20 points, nine rebounds) has been mostly a negative this season.

Robert Williams has shown nice strides before his injury, but remains a long-term play. That goes double for the rookie Grant Williams, who recently hit his first 3-point attempt after 25 misses to start the season.

Then there’s Vincent Poirier. The Frenchman was recently sent to the Maine Red Claws after failing to get any significant minutes on the Celtics. The Houdini is quite frankly baffled at how he is taking up a roster spot on a guaranteed contract, but that is a conversation for another day.

The conversation today is, and has, been this: the Boston Celtics will not win anything if they do not fix their center rotation before the playoffs.

Whether it be a trade that sends Hayward packing ahead of his opt-out, dangling the Memphis 2020 pick or even a smaller deal that brings in an experienced big body, the C’s need to act quickly before seeing what could have been a special year swallowed whole by the elite centers of the NBA.