ECSF: P1 | (2) Boston Celtics vs Philadelphia 76ers (3) | BOS 1-0

[xfactor99]

I think Boston can do some things to frustrate the Sixers on offense (in particular, take away their open 3's), but I have a very hard time seeing how Boston will be able to score at all against the Sixers, especially if Jaylen Brown is limited due to his hamstring injury. Especially if they have to play Baynes and Ojeleye big minutes to defend Embiid and Simmons, Boston is really going to struggle to get open looks against a Sixers team with size and Embiid at the rim. This ain't the incompetent Bucks, Philly isn't going to break down and mess up basic pick and roll coverage lol or trot out guys with zero chance defensively like Jabari Parker and Jason Terry.

[Green89]

So did Miami. And Simmons averaged a triple double for the series.

Miami has no one like Celtics players #36 and #37.

What’s the distance in talent between Smart and Josh Richardson? Richardson showed a lot of effort and skill on the defensive end. Then I’m assuming Boston will use Morris in the same way as James Johnson to be in Simmons face defense. Not sure what number 37 is suppose to do.

What’s #37 going to do??

Read on Twitter

[John Murdoch]

Celtics have zero chance here

[GoCeltics123]

the real battle will be between Massholes and fans from the City of Brotherly Hate

facts

[GoCeltics123]

I think that might have something to do with Lebron having his worst supporting cast ever and the Raps being the only healthy contender in the East. The Sixers don't have a shot in hell of winning the title though. We all know this.

Shall I go through Boston seasons when they have been successful, cherry pick circumstances that were favorable to them, and attribute said success to circumstances rather than giving the Celtics any credit? That would be awful petty of me...

Every Celtic team in the Big 3 era up until 2012 have been considerably better than this current Sixers team. After that there isn't a season where I was deluded enough to believe they had a shot at the title like Sixers fans apparently do with this current team.

Embiid and Simmons are great but GS/Houston might sweep them, to be honest

[CeltsFlow]

The Sixers are a good team, and I picked them to win the series easily. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. A healthy Celtics team would mop the floor with them.

The Sixers are playing a team missing their 2 best players. Sixers fans need to imagine their own roster without Simmons and Embiid.

Weren't they playing without Embiid down the stretch of the season and took one off Miami without him? Philadelphia are probably on as good a roll as anyone not called the Warriors right now. I think they take care of business in five or six at worst. Too many match up problems for the Celtics who will really have to slow them down because they won't have the points in them to keep up.

They were without Embiid, not Embiid and Simmons.

Celtics are without Irving and Hayward.

Nice to see Raps fans got us

[FlatearthZorro]

Celtics have zero chance here

As far as I remember most LAL fans said the same about the Bucks beating us. And you were enjoying yourselves when we lost games. It probably has nothing to do with bias.

[lambchop]

Losing Jaylen Brown is a tough blow. With him they would matchup more or less like this from a celtics perspective
Rozier - Reddick
Smart - Covington
Brown - Simmons (yes, Simmons is PG, I'm just talking about matchups)
Tatum - Saric
Horford - Embiid

Simmons would also see some ojeleye and Horford.

From PHI perspective they can put someone like Simmons on Rozier and try to disrupt bostons offense.

[LordCovington33]

The Sixers are a good team, and I picked them to win the series easily. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. A healthy Celtics team would mop the floor with them.

The Sixers are playing a team missing their 2 best players. Sixers fans need to imagine their own roster without Simmons and Embiid.

How do you know? Hayward played 5 minutes so far could have stunted the growth for Brown and Tatum. Kyrie is a big loss not denying that. 76ers won 19 of their last 20 games by an average of 14 points.

How do I know? Hayward was a 4.0 VORP, 10.4 WS, 3.06 RPM player last year.

Tatum and Brown haven't come anywhere close to that level of production.

Hayard + Irving are better than Simmons + Embiid. Boston supporting cast is better than Philly supporting cast. Could Simmons and Embiid overtake Hayward and Irving in the future? Sure. I even expect them to. But they're not better right now.

Based on? RPM? VORP? WS? Or all 3 since you cited those stats to explain why GH is good?

If RPM, then:

Embiid (4.78) > Simmons (3.2)> Hayward > Irving (2.5)

Tyus Jones must be playing like an All Star with his 4.77 rpm

For VORP, Simmons has 4.6, Irving has 4.0, and Embiid 2.2. Embiid must be hot garbage.

[kuclas]

Shall I go through Boston seasons when they have been successful, cherry pick circumstances that were favorable to them, and attribute said success to circumstances rather than giving the Celtics any credit? That would be awful petty of me...

Every Celtic team in the Big 3 era up until 2012 have been considerably better than this current Sixers team. After that there isn't a season where I was deluded enough to believe they had a shot at the title like Sixers fans apparently do with this current team.

Embiid and Simmons are great but GS/Houston might sweep them, to be honest

I like sixers chances against Houston. If Golden state healthy. Sixers May get 1 game. Hard to judge regular season games. Cause Chris Paul didn’t play and Philly won in Houston and blew game at the buzzer at home.

Golden state blitzed sixers in the 3rd quarter of both games

Golden state is longer so can send double teams at embiid.

But embiid can pretty much have his way with capela who is too small not only giving up 3 inches but also 40 pounds. Can live with harden and cp3 scoring as much as they want. But take away capela’s spark Houston becomes 2 dimensional which is still so dangerously. Rather than 3 dimensional. Houston likely still wins in 6 though.

Those were early regular
Season games. So we will see.

Golden state and Houston are obviously the favorites.

[FlatearthZorro]

I think Boston can do some things to frustrate the Sixers on offense (in particular, take away their open 3's), but I have a very hard time seeing how Boston will be able to score at all against the Sixers, especially if Jaylen Brown is limited due to his hamstring injury. Especially if they have to play Baynes and Ojeleye big minutes to defend Embiid and Simmons, Boston is really going to struggle to get open looks against a Sixers team with size and Embiid at the rim. This ain't the incompetent Bucks, Philly isn't going to break down and mess up basic pick and roll coverage lol or trot out guys with zero chance defensively like Jabari Parker and Jason Terry.

Mmm, I dunno. I think the Bucks played some really decent defense. You're underrating them a lot.

[kuclas]

Losing Jaylen Brown is a tough blow. With him they would matchup more or less like this from a celtics perspective
Rozier - Reddick
Smart - Covington
Brown - Simmons (yes, Simmons is PG, I'm just talking about matchups)
Tatum - Saric
Horford - Embiid

Simmons would also see some ojeleye and Horford.

From PHI perspective they can put someone like Simmons on Rozier and try to disrupt bostons offense.

On philly’s Defensive end.

Covington usually takes the defensive assignment on the opposing teams best 1-4 player on offense. He basically covers even point guards.

Reddick guards the least potent offensive player. So he guards smart.

Simmons will guard Tatum or brown.

Saric will cover Horford.

Embiid will cover baynes/horford whoever the big is in the game for Boston.

[hookshot199]

Losing Jaylen Brown is a tough blow. With him they would matchup more or less like this from a celtics perspective

Rozier - Reddick
Smart - Covington
Brown - Simmons (yes, Simmons is PG, I'm just talking about matchups)
Tatum - Saric
Horford - Embiid

Simmons would also see some ojeleye and Horford.

From PHI perspective they can put someone like Simmons on Rozier and try to disrupt bostons offense.

Then bench (they don't all match up):

Baynes - Amir
Monroe/Ojeyele (?) - Ilyasova/Holmes
Morris - Belinelli/Anderson
Larkin - McConnell

They'd never put Covington on Smart. He doesn't shoot well enough. More likely on Brown or Tatum; possibly even Horford in situations. Saric will defend whichever one, Tatum or Brown, Covington doesn't.

Redick and/or Belinelli on Smart. And the other guy who has really upped his offensive game is Morris. Depending on the rotations, I could imagine Simmons playing him. They really have to cover him like a blanket. He's been shooting 3's at a .450 clip, way over his season average. I could envision putting Simmons on him because he's taller. And whoever is playing Rozier will have to keep him off the 3-point line - and not make dumb fouls while in the act of shooting. Make him run into the trees.

[kuclas]

I cannot wait till tonight. Will see how much defensive effort Boston has to exert and whether that sucks rinse energy on the offensive end.

I don’t think Boston should be tired even after 7 game series. Cause they played at home Saturday and back at home tonight. Sixers May be rusty. Embiid doesn’t play well if he’s off more than 3 rest days.

[titlebound1]

Boston will win tonight without brown. And the general board will blame the refs.

[TheNewEra]

Miami has no one like Celtics players #36 and #37.

What’s the distance in talent between Smart and Josh Richardson? Richardson showed a lot of effort and skill on the defensive end. Then I’m assuming Boston will use Morris in the same way as James Johnson to be in Simmons face defense. Not sure what number 37 is suppose to do.

What’s #37 going to do??

Read on Twitter

Video would be fine if Simmons wasn’t built like a ox himself. Simmons likely stronger, much better ball handler, and better court vision/teammates. Simmons is playing at a higher level with more confidence in his skill set right now than the Bucks team.

[3toheadmelo]

tatum vs simmons is gonna be one helluva matchup

[Madhouse]

Boston will win tonight without brown. And the general board will blame the refs.

The GB is not even on Sixers side so they won't blame anyone.

[KHRICH]

What’s the distance in talent between Smart and Josh Richardson? Richardson showed a lot of effort and skill on the defensive end. Then I’m assuming Boston will use Morris in the same way as James Johnson to be in Simmons face defense. Not sure what number 37 is suppose to do.

What’s #37 going to do??

Read on Twitter

Video would be fine if Simmons wasn’t built like a ox himself. Simmons likely stronger, much better ball handler, and better court vision/teammates. Simmons is playing at a higher level with more confidence in his skill set right now than the Bucks team.

Stronger than the old Giannis current one? no

[TheNewEra]

What’s #37 going to do??

Read on Twitter

Video would be fine if Simmons wasn’t built like a ox himself. Simmons likely stronger, much better ball handler, and better court vision/teammates. Simmons is playing at a higher level with more confidence in his skill set right now than the Bucks team.

Stronger than the old Giannis current one? no

Even if not visually appearing as strong he’s still more capable using his size inside. Simmons has the tools to be a serious issue for the Celtics and is a better player since last meeting and upgraded roster.