Celtics have identified 76ers' soft spot entering pivotal Game 6 in Philly

Philadelphia -- One of the factors at the root of the Boston Celtics failing to close out this first-round rivalry clash on Tuesday was that they played into Joel Embiid's hands. The 76ers' star center has dealt with questions about his stamina and conditioning throughout his career. He's seven feet tall and listed at 280 pounds. That's a lot of mass to lumber up and down the court. Furthermore, he is just returning from an appendectomy. There is no substitute for participation that allows one to achieve proper game shape -- especially not during the playoffs.

Embiid first returned in Game 4. Doing so is admirable and a testament to his love of the sport. However, through his first six quarters back in the lineup, he looked like a liability. Boston regularly targeted him in pick-and-rolls. He wasn't jumping and appeared incapable of summoning his former MVP self. After halftime of Tuesday's tilt, he found a way to do so.

The seven-time All-Star erupted for 18 points after the intermission. He ended the night with 33. He also weaponized the Celtics' double-teams against them. That led to him dishing out eight assists. His production in both categories was the most in the matchup in Philadelphia's 113-97 victory to save its season.

For the Celtics, there's a clear counter

As Payton Pritchard discussed after Tuesday's loss, a solution that will solve multiple problems for Boston is to operate at a faster tempo.

"Didn't make shots, and [the] pace slowed down, and then you let Embiid do what he did, and he's hard to cover one-on-one, and we played right into his type of game," voiced the 2025 Sixth Man of the Year.

Playing Pritchard more is a sure-fire way to help address that. Thursday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena, the visitors need to test Embiid's stamina. Make him prove that he can keep up and continue to punish them while playing at their desired pace. Even if he does, if the Celtics are limiting his trips to the free-throw line and his ability to get his teammates in a rhythm, then it might not be impactful enough. That's especially true if they're successfully targeting him at the other end of the floor. That becomes easier to accomplish if he's fatigued.

Beyond being a means to attack and slow down Embiid, playing uptempo makes it easier to find a rhythm offensively. It was something Boston needed to do in Game 5. Whether or not the Sixers score can't change that.

The Celtics missed 28 threes on Tuesday. They shot a frigid 40 percent from the field. Pushing the pace more frequently would have helped. They understand that entering Game 6.

"Really important, especially as the game goes on," voiced Derrick White while discussing the need to push the pace more after Thursday's shootaround. "I think it's easy to run early in the game, but especially, late-game, and something that you need to push and try to create great offense when they're not waiting for us. And so that's definitely important; something that we've been talking about."

It's a vehicle that could help slow down Joel Embiid, reignite Boston's offense, and bring an end to this first-round rivalry clash.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow