The Philadelphia 76ers revamped their roster at the trade deadline, bringing in Tobias Harris to upgrade their already fearsome starting lineup, and adding some veteran bench depth in Mike Scott, Jonathon Simmons, and Boban Marjanovic. The new-look Philadelphia team got off to a roaring start in its first two games against the Nuggets and the Lakers, but when it came time to face their old nemesis, the Boston Celtics, the Sixers once again fell flat on their faces, losing by three at home.
Boston has now won 10 of its last 12 games against Philadelphia, including a five-game gentleman’s sweep in the Eastern Conference semifinals last season when the Celtics were without Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, and an opening night shellacking of the Sixers. Philadelphia may have hoped that it had evened the playing field at the trade deadline, but Tuesday’s defeat proved that the Celtics still have the upper hand for now.
It may not matter who suits up for Philadelphia, but the key for Boston has been Al Horford, who has been adept at shutting down Joel Embiid. The Sixers’ All-Star center has an offensive rating of 110.6 this season; that drops to 100 when he is playing the Celtics. Per Tomasz Kordylewski, Embiid scored 15 points on 6-for-17 shooting on the 55 possessions he was defended by Horford Tuesday.
Embiid is generally unwilling to give his defenders any credit, and instead put the game’s referees on blast, but the damage dates back further than last night. In the last eight times these two teams have matched up, Embiid has scored 83 points on 80 shot attempts against Horford. Despite giving up five inches on Embiid, Horford has the strength and positional acuity to frustrate Embiid.
Being able to single-cover Embiid is a gigantic advantage, one the Celtics can double-down on when they have a healthy Aron Baynes. The Sixers don’t have a ton of spacing, but allowing perimeter defenders to stay home on Jimmy Butler, Tobias Harris, and J.J. Redick limits options for Philadelphia’s offense.
Embiid still managed to be effective last postseason against Boston, mostly due to his defensive value, but his fellow All-Star Ben Simmons has had an even tougher time. In the 2017-18 regular season, Simmons had a net rating of -13.2 in four matchups, thanks to a hideous 92.7 offensive rating. In the playoffs, the then-rookie was essentially schemed off the floor by Brad Stevens due to his inability to hit a jumper. The Celtics ran to the foul line on every transition possession to neutralize Simmons on the break and switched every screen with like-sized wings so that Simmons couldn’t gain an advantage.
This season, Boston has run a familiar script with Simmons. Philadelphia has been limited on fast breaks and points off of turnovers, scoring 12 and 8, respectively, on Tuesday. When Simmons does get into the lane, the Celtics are content to foul him — he went 2-for-7 from the free-throw line Tuesday and just 8-for-17 in the two previous regular-season contests.
Philadelphia will need someone beyond Embiid and Simmons to carry the offensive load. On Tuesday, Butler was the best option, scoring 22 points on 12 shots, though he missed three free throws in the fourth quarter. Butler has the second-best offensive rating (104.8) of any Sixer against Boston this season, behind the newly-acquired Scott, but his defense hasn’t been up to par. Harris really struggled, unable to connect on six attempts from beyond the arc despite entering the game as a 43 percent shooter from deep. Harris’ value comes as a scoring threat from the perimeter, especially in this lineup, so if he isn’t hitting shots, he is a liability for Philadelphia.
While the Sixers’ new additions failed to impress, the Celtics benefitted from a throwback outing from Hayward, who dropped 26 points on the night. Boston already has too many capable wings for Philadelphia to adequately defend, especially when Redick and Harris are on the floor, and adding Hayward to the mix makes a tall task even tougher.
The second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs figures to be a bloodbath with four teams all legitimate challengers for the East throne — beyond Philly and Boston, the Milwaukee Bucks and Toronto Raptors are terrifying and found ways to bolster their rotations at the trade deadline. The Sixers look like they belong in that mix against 28 teams in the league, including the Warriors, who they defeated two weeks ago at Oracle Arena. However, when matched up against the Celtics, all of Philadelphia’s weaknesses manifest themselves.
Boston is one of the few teams in the league with the physicality to match the Sixers; even though they concede some size up and down the roster, the Celtics make other teams feel them on defense. As they continue to dominate Philadelphia on the basketball court, the Boston Celtics are also taking residence in the Sixers’ heads, one victory after another suggesting that this is a battle Philadelphia can’t win without some changes.
