Boston Celtics: Brad Stevens out-coaching Brett Brown is key to series win

With Brett Brown indefinitely on the hot-seat heading into this year’s postseason, Boston Celtics head man Brad Stevens must not relent.

With Thursday’s regular-season finale for the Boston Celtics now in the books, the team begins to set their sights on the playoffs and, more specifically, their first-round matchup against the sixth-seeded Philadelphia 76ers.

Coming into the Disney bubble, we here at the Houdini deemed this matchup as one of the toughest the Cs could have come the postseason, stating their physicality and their success against them during the regular season as two prime justifications as to why.

"The 76ers have given the Boston Celtics trouble all throughout the 2019-20 campaign. Winning the season series three games to one, Philly managed to best the team in multiple important statistical categories, including rebounding (205 vs 154), blocks (23 vs 12), and scoring efficiency (Philly shot 45 percent from the field & 33 percent from deep while Cs shot 43 percent & 32 percent from 3).One of the main fears heading into this season for Boston pertained to their depleted frontcourt rotation and, more notably, their lackluster size down low. For the most part, throughout the year this hasn’t proven to be as big of a problem for the team as we originally had thought… except for when facing Philadelphia.Rolling out a starting lineup oft consisting of no players under 6-5, two players (including their point guard) in the 6-10 range and a legitimate seven-footer in Joel Embiid, the towering Sixers have given the Celtics’ roster (average height being around 6-5) a real run for their money.As we’ve suggested in recent publications, a team built like Philadelphia could be truly dangerous come the resumption of NBA action, as players will likely gear more towards a back to the basket/ physically dominating style of play — something they tend to excel at."

Though things have somewhat changed in regard to this matchup, what with Ben Simmons being out for an indefinite period as he recovers from his surgery to remove the loose body in his left knee, we still believe Philly to be a challenging opponent to kick off the playoffs against for the Boston Celtics.

However, since the aforementioned article’s publication, one more realization as to why the Sixers could be trouble for the shamrocks has emerged: Brett Brown is fighting for his job.

To put things simply, it’s desperation time for Philly’s seventh-year head man. Boasting a career winning percentage of .390 (220-344 overall record) and only being able to reach the postseason on three separate occasions — including this season –, General Manager Elton Brand has essentially used 2019-20 as an examination year for Brown, and left things quite ambiguous when asked about the head coach’s future with the team back in February, stating “I’m not going to play what-ifs.”

In short, Brett Brown needs to be immaculate with his coaching efforts this postseason if he wants to save his job with the team moving forward. Another early exit would likely lead to his dismissal which, in turn, means he’ll likely be pulling out all the stops right from the getgo.

To effectively combat these expected efforts, the Boston Celtics will need their own Head Coach, Brad Stevens, to simply continue doing what he’s done for the majority of his career: out-coach the competition.

Regarded as one of the best coaches in the NBA today, Stevens, too, finds himself in the midst of his seventh season as the head man of his respective ball club. Unlike Brown, however, the 43-year-old has found long-lasting success, holding an overall record of 318-246 (winning percentage of .564) and is now heading towards his sixth-straight playoff appearance.

Stevens has already managed to out-coach Brett Brown before in the postseason, besting the much more talented 76ers squad in five games back in 2018 with a, then, rookie Jayson Tatum and a third-year role player Terry Rozier as their leaders.

It wouldn’t be at all surprising to see his expertise shine through once again in the playoffs against these hobbled Sixers.

Frankly, we don’t expect any regression in regard to the recently extended Brad Stevens’ level of excellence come the postseason. That said, the battle of the coaches will be a key storyline to watch during this impending first-round matchup for the Boston Celtics.