R2G2 - 76ers at Celtics - May 3 8:00pm ET TNT

[NYSixersFan]

Only chance we have is if Embiid is the 3rd or 4th option on offense. You have to ride or die with Harden being in control this series and hope you can get 3 more great games. Maxey is the #2 option. Embiid needs to crash the boards and make jumpers that come his way off Harden/Maxey creation.

Niang can't play this series.

I have no faith in Doc.

[LeonJordanJr24]

Joel is selfish as hell. He shouldn't of played and hurting team chemistry. We need him healthy for a future rounds and history has shown that Boston is krytonite. We need a team not just one player vs a team that just came from NBA finals. This is bull. We are costing our opportunity just to appease one player. Joel is a liability vs Boston. The hell with blocks they shoot 3's ,share the ball and play fast this series lost once again is on joel and his stubbornness. Sit your ass down and let our guards and forwards win the war matchup like game 1. Joel is just slowing us down and messing up the flow.

[Negrodamus]

My guess, and it could be completely wrong, is that Harden gave his all during game 1 and was gassed for game 2. I don't think we can expect Harden to carry us home this series. We're going to need Embiid to score at a high level to take the pressure off everyone else on offense. He was clearly not synced with the rest of the team. Some of his ill advised passes were horrendous.

I'm hoping he got that out of his system and the team can make the adjustments needed to run an offense similar to what they were doing in Brooklyn. He's clearly still showing up on defense which is important. We might need to see more 2-3 zone with everyone selling out to not allow a clean 3pter. Force the drive towards. Crash the glass on the miss. We need to prevent Embiid hanging out on the perimeter defending Horford.

[GoSixersBro]

I didn't think Harden looked gassed IMO. Our offense is just completely different with Joel in and out of the starting line up. Boston's defense is given fits when Harden and Maxey are looking to score first on every possession.

[Bum Adebayo]

Deserved that ass kicking after that embarrassing Embid flop on the inbound.

If he's not healthy he shouldn't be playing either. The teams energy was way different last night compared to game 1.

Sure but no problem with Harden's performance, only with Embiid. That Rockets flag sure has nothing to do with the sentiment either...

[Bum Adebayo]

Joel is selfish as hell. He shouldn't of played and hurting team chemistry. We need him healthy for a future rounds and history has shown that Boston is krytonite. We need a team not just one player vs a team that just came from NBA finals. This is bull. We are costing our opportunity just to appease one player. Joel is a liability vs Boston. The hell with blocks they shoot 3's ,share the ball and play fast this series lost once again is on joel and his stubbornness. Sit your ass down and let our guards and forwards win the war matchup like game 1. Joel is just slowing us down and messing up the flow.

Sure the blueprint is 1-man crew with James Harden iso-ball. Did you like his 2/14 fantastic performance? sure that's the path going forward...

[Bum Adebayo]

Apparently it's Embiid's fault that James Harden shot 2/14 from the floor, now I've seen it all, actually Embiid only shot 9 times, in what world is that selfish for a player of his caliber?
Let's be honest, G1 was a huge fluke and they match up too well with us + they have much better bench, we were always going to lose this series unless Celts go very cold fron 3pt land in a lot of games.

[76ciology]

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[Bum Adebayo]

If Embiid doesn't play, you are always going to rely on James Harden going off and our shooters being hot, that's the only way, because without Embiid, Celtics don't need to be reliant on 3pt shooting, they will drive to the paint all day long and will consistently score 110+ pts. That's why they had an unusually low 3pt attempts in G1, yet they still scored 115 points.

[Mik317]

not sure why we always have to play the blame game after every loss lol.

Biid coming back did change some things for the worse...but I also don't think we got bad shots either. Harden wasn't good last night but he also had like 3 shots rim in and out and Brown is a damn good defender. Defensively yeah dudes were out of position or late on close outs but also you are going to give up something on most defensive possessions...Brogdon can't be that guy but still **** happens.

If you are going to throw blame around..then everyone had a role to play in it. This wasn't the normal Biid is sad and out of it game nor the Harden is too busy thinking about da hoes game either. Perhaps they felt that they got the one game they needed and didn't press as much...which sucks but also I think after that poor start out of the break thats human nature too.

Again I don't think we can beat the Celtics and think that their shooting is going to destroy us sadly but last night wasn't the game to start pointing fingers over IMO. I'd wait and see how they respond to the punch in the mouth this time because despite my doubt, they have responded much better to said things this season so far. The key in the playoffs is game to game adjustments...we just lost our first game all postseason...at least give them a chance to fail spectacularly before pushing the "its this player I don't like fault and totally not the player I do like" agendas lol

[mjkvol]

It's a shame we took this game as a game to 'get out of the way'.. I hope the team and the staff took some positives.

As I said earlier, don't take any game for granted because it will be incredibly difficult to beat them twice at home. They are perfectly capable of winning on the road.

But let's focus on the next one. We need to come out firing. The building will be electric, we need to jump them from the start.

The "get it out of the way" game had to happen given how long Embiid has been out, and better to have it be G2 than G3. It also served to show how BOS would approach us with Embiid back and come up with solutions and a game plan for G3. Boston winning last night was a foregone conclusion with Embiid back, which is why it didn't bother me at all.

The bigger concern in my view is that the team just looks and plays better and freer without Embiid - better pace, a lot of ball movement, more transition points and open looks for guys like Melton and Maxey. The Celtics had a problem with our G1 pace and ball movement, but once we went back to the predictable half court game with Embiid, they found their comfort zone.

I love Embiid, but this isn't the healthy Jo who might take over games the way he did against BOS earlier this season. My fear is that the offense is so entrenched with him as the focus that even a conscious attempt to play freer with him as a defensive anchor, as many have suggested, wouldn't work now, as it has never been part of the scheme here. It's going to take an off-season and next regular season to implement a change of that magnitude.

Embiid didn’t force anything on offense last night. Sixers just missed shots. Boston made them.

Embiid really was a big statue preventing layups when he was in the paint.

He wasn’t a positive. But wasn’t a negative either. Obviously we need him in mvp form. Attacking. Causing stress on the Celtics defense. But he clearly can’t attack with the knees and. The brace. We just need him to play defense. Get 15-20 points within the offense.

It’s a make or miss league. Boston just made a bunch of 3s. Sixers didn’t.

I really hope you're right and it's as simple as that.

[mjkvol]

I didn't think Harden looked gassed IMO. Our offense is just completely different with Joel in and out of the starting line up. Boston's defense is given fits when Harden and Maxey are looking to score first on every possession.

Agree with this. Harden had two 3's that were halfway down and spun out, and I believe Maxey had one as well. The one thing I'd love to see is Harden taking that little pull up jumper instead of always barreling to the rim. That shot is deadly, and he can get it any time he wants.

[mjkvol]

not sure why we always have to play the blame game after every loss lol.

Biid coming back did change some things for the worse...but I also don't think we got bad shots either. Harden wasn't good last night but he also had like 3 shots rim in and out and Brown is a damn good defender. Defensively yeah dudes were out of position or late on close outs but also you are going to give up something on most defensive possessions...Brogdon can't be that guy but still **** happens.

If you are going to throw blame around..then everyone had a role to play in it. This wasn't the normal Biid is sad and out of it game nor the Harden is too busy thinking about da hoes game either. Perhaps they felt that they got the one game they needed and didn't press as much...which sucks but also I think after that poor start out of the break thats human nature too.

Again I don't think we can beat the Celtics and think that their shooting is going to destroy us sadly but last night wasn't the game to start pointing fingers over IMO. I'd wait and see how they respond to the punch in the mouth this time because despite my doubt, they have responded much better to said things this season so far. The key in the playoffs is game to game adjustments...we just lost our first game all postseason...at least give them a chance to fail spectacularly before pushing the "its this player I don't like fault and totally not the player I do like" agendas lol

Exactly this. NBA playoff series between close rivals that know each other the way these two do almost always go this way, and almost always include a blowout or two. It's been this way forever.

It's thrust and parry, adjustments followed by more adjustments, and the team that is able to adjust most effectively wins. Or the team that shoots lights out, like BOS did last night. Placing blame after every loss is pointless.

Rivers knew the Sixers had broken serve, and G2 was about working Embiid back in and seeing the BOS adjustments. Now it's a five game series and we have home advantage. Game on.

[Ferry Avenue]

Deserved that ass kicking after that embarrassing Embid flop on the inbound.

If he's not healthy he shouldn't be playing either. The teams energy was way different last night compared to game 1.

That's the main issue. No team plays well if there's nobody spearheading it. Harden was the spearhead in game 1. Nobody was in game 2.

[Bum Adebayo]

The "get it out of the way" game had to happen given how long Embiid has been out, and better to have it be G2 than G3. It also served to show how BOS would approach us with Embiid back and come up with solutions and a game plan for G3. Boston winning last night was a foregone conclusion with Embiid back, which is why it didn't bother me at all.

The bigger concern in my view is that the team just looks and plays better and freer without Embiid - better pace, a lot of ball movement, more transition points and open looks for guys like Melton and Maxey. The Celtics had a problem with our G1 pace and ball movement, but once we went back to the predictable half court game with Embiid, they found their comfort zone.

I love Embiid, but this isn't the healthy Jo who might take over games the way he did against BOS earlier this season. My fear is that the offense is so entrenched with him as the focus that even a conscious attempt to play freer with him as a defensive anchor, as many have suggested, wouldn't work now, as it has never been part of the scheme here. It's going to take an off-season and next regular season to implement a change of that magnitude.

Embiid didn’t force anything on offense last night. Sixers just missed shots. Boston made them.

Embiid really was a big statue preventing layups when he was in the paint.

He wasn’t a positive. But wasn’t a negative either. Obviously we need him in mvp form. Attacking. Causing stress on the Celtics defense. But he clearly can’t attack with the knees and. The brace. We just need him to play defense. Get 15-20 points within the offense.

It’s a make or miss league. Boston just made a bunch of 3s. Sixers didn’t.

I really hope you're right and it's as simple as that.

It's not, there is a reason why they are more successful with their 3pt attempts and we don't, it's called defense.

[Ksny13]

Deserved that ass kicking after that embarrassing Embid flop on the inbound.

If he's not healthy he shouldn't be playing either. The teams energy was way different last night compared to game 1.

Sure but no problem with Harden's performance, only with Embiid. That Rockets flag sure has nothing to do with the sentiment either...

Lol what? I never said I had a problem with his performance. I had an issue with his God awful flop. And yes if a player isn't healthy they should not be playing.

[Embiid P]

Joel is selfish as hell. He shouldn't of played and hurting team chemistry. We need him healthy for a future rounds and history has shown that Boston is krytonite. We need a team not just one player vs a team that just came from NBA finals. This is bull. We are costing our opportunity just to appease one player. Joel is a liability vs Boston. The hell with blocks they shoot 3's ,share the ball and play fast this series lost once again is on joel and his stubbornness. Sit your ass down and let our guards and forwards win the war matchup like game 1. Joel is just slowing us down and messing up the flow.

Not that I'm in favor of Embiid rushing back too soon from an injury and we played well in game 1 without him, but do you really think that beating the Celtics without him is sustainable over a seven game series? I don't.

Without him, the Celtics would have a ton of easy looks in the paint like they did in game 1. Sure they shot the lights out from beyond the arc in game 2 but if push comes to shove, I'd rather let them try to beat us from 3 then to just surrender a ton of easy high percentage points in the paint.

[elchengue20]

Our team is so bizarre, i fully understand losing this Game but not like that.

Something is off with Joel and Harden as leaders. And our other leader can play a full game without scoring a single point.

We need to win Game 3 or this series is almost over.

Maybe it was just the adjustement of having Joel back and the Celtics going desperation mode at home. But i seen this team fails so often when it matters than i think its deeper than that. Hope they prove me wrong next game but its just how i see it.

That being sayed, i understand having Joel back, he looked fit enough to play. And him coming back could take a game of adjustement for the team and for him to get in rythm. Now we need to win Game 3, no more excuses.

[Zumramania]

Yes, but if we can't win without Embiid and can't win with him either, this means that he is not contributing and this is concerning. It is concerning that the team is more relaxed offensively without Embiid, that Reed and Tucker set screens at the logo, which give Harden breathing room, whereas Joel sets screens to get himself involved etc. Something needs to change for the rest of the series, otherwise I don't see much of a difference with Joel playing.

[mjkvol]

Our team is so bizarre, i fully understand losing this Game but not like that.

Something is off with Joel and Harden as leaders. And our other leader can play a full game without scoring a single point.

We need to win Game 3 or this series is almost over.

Maybe it was just the adjustement of having Joel back and the Celtics going desperation mode at home. But i seen this team fails so often when it matters than i think its deeper than that. Hope they prove me wrong next game but its just how i see it.

That being sayed, i understand having Joel back, he looked fit enough to play. And him coming back could take a game of adjustement for the team and for him to get in rythm. Now we need to win Game 3, no more excuses.

That game was all about getting to game 3. If it was balls to the wall do you think the starters would have sat the entire 4th quarter? That, and the Celtics hitting every 3 was why the score was stupid.