Games: everything we know so far

The Game 6 loss to the 76ers was another example of coach Joe Mazzulla’s stubbornness and the Celtics’ weaknesses and limitations. Games has emerged this Friday as one of the stories drawing attention in United Kingdom.

Key facts

• The Game 6 loss to the 76ers was another example of coach Joe Mazzulla’s stubbornness and the Celtics’ weaknesses and limitations.
• PHILADELPHIA — If Joe Mazzulla’s adjustment was for his team to make more shots to beat the rejuvenated 76ers, then it failed miserably, and it’s impossible to find any other changes the Celtics made from their putrid Game 5 performance.
• They lost all control of Game 6 in the third quarter in the 106-93 loss as the offense was one-dimensional — Brown goes one-on-one and then Tatum takes his turn — and will fly back to Boston wondering why they have looked predictable in these past two games.
• It’s worked to perfection in the last two games and Nurse had to make changes after falling behind 3-1.
• In the past two games, the Celtics are a ghastly 23 for 80 from the 3-point line and that includes 2 for 13 from the reliable Payton Pritchard and 6 of 18 from Tatum.

What we know

Going deeper, PHILADELPHIA — If Joe Mazzulla’s adjustment was for his team to make more shots to beat the rejuvenated 76ers, then it failed miserably, and it’s impossible to find any other changes the Celtics made from their putrid Game 5 performance.

On the substance, they lost all control of Game 6 in the third quarter in the 106-93 loss as the offense was one-dimensional — Brown goes one-on-one and then Tatum takes his turn

Beyond the headlines, It’s worked to perfection in the last two games and Nurse had to make changes after falling behind 3-1.

More precisely, In the past two games, the Celtics are a ghastly 23 for 80 from the 3-point line and that includes 2 for 13 from the reliable Payton Pritchard and 6 of 18 from Tatum.

It is worth noting that Vucevic was supposed to help solve those paint-scoring problems, but he’s made seven 2-point shots in the six games.

By the numbers

At this stage, So, unsurprisingly, Game 6 was another example of Mazzulla’s stubbornness and the Celtics’ weaknesses and limitations being on display in another closeout game.

On a related note, it got so bad Thursday night in South Philly that Mazzulla pulled his starters with 10:24 left while his team trailed by 23 points because, quite honestly, there was no reason to play his first unit.

Going deeper, Jayson Tatum airballed two 3-pointers and then looked to the officials as the reason.

On the substance, the Celtics still haven’t figured out a way to guard the pick-and-roll between Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid, and now they are on the verge of blowing a 3-1 series lead with one more of these pathetic efforts.

What they're saying

“Before that we didn’t play hard enough,” he said.

“I thought tonight the Sixers played well and we didn’t.”

The wider context

On a related note, And at this point, there’s really little reason for hope they’ll gather themselves enough to beat the 76ers one more time.

Going deeper, Brown openly admitted that the second unit, which went on an 11-0 run early in the fourth quarter “played harder” than the starters.

On the substance, the next 48 hours become perhaps the biggest stretch of Mazzulla’s tenure, as he has to reinvigorate a team that’s lost itself, believed Philadelphia would fold in the middle of Game 5 and entered Game 6 truly believing a couple of more jumpers would win this series.

Beyond the headlines, the Nikola Vucevic experiment continues to be an abject failure as he produced one basket in 14 minutes.

More precisely, He was supposed to stretch the floor with his 3-point shooting and he’s made 7 of 24 for the series.

The bottom line

• They lost all control of Game 6 in the third quarter in the 106-93 loss as the offense was one-dimensional — Brown goes one-on-one and then Tatum takes his turn — and will fly back to Boston wondering why they have looked predictable in these past two games.
• It got so bad Thursday night in South Philly that Mazzulla pulled his starters with 10:24 left while his team trailed by 23 points because, quite honestly, there was no reason to play his first unit.
• The Celtics still haven’t figured out a way to guard the pick-and-roll between Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid, and now they are on the verge of blowing a 3-1 series lead with one more of these pathetic efforts.
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