4 takeaways from the Celtics’ route from the Sixers in Game 2

The Celtics beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 128-101, Wednesday night in Game 2 of their first-round playoff matchup, and took a 2-0 series lead.

Here is what we saw:

Joel Embiid scored 34, but Enes Kanter did not let him get in his place.

After the loss of Philadelphia’s Game 1 – a much closer result – Sixers center Joel Embiid declared his 26-point, 16-rebound performance not enough.

“Whatever the statistics are, I need to do more,” Embiid said after the defeat. ‘I have one task to do: it is to carry us. I will need my teammates to help me, but I need to do more. ”

Somewhere in Game 2, it looked like Embiid was ready to put the Sixers on his back. During his first stint on the court, he showed no problem what he wanted against Celtics starting center Daniel Theis. Embiid put his will in the paint on his first shot, attacking the dribble on his next, maintaining control of the ball through half-point, scoring nine of Philly’s first 13 points. He and Theis were both out of the game midway through the first quarter.

When Embiid returned to the game, however, Theis remained on the bench. The Celtics sent in Enes Kanter instead, a matchup that had given Embiid trouble earlier in the regular season. Embiid’s production did not stop – he struck three straight jumpers outside 15 feet – but none of his men came to the rim. He finished the quarter with 15 points, tied on 6 of his 9 shot attempts, with the Sixers holding a six-point lead.

Kanter continued to hold Embiid by the rim, making it difficult for him to create an offensive rhythm throughout the rest of the game. Embiid scored just five more field goals after his commanding first quarter. He still finished with a game-high 34 points and 10 rebounds.

“The game is 48 minutes,” Embiid said after the game. “What we did in the first quarter, we still had to do three quarters.”

The Boston bank is finally shining.

With starter Gordon Hayward expected to miss about four weeks due to a straight ankle injury, Celtics coach Brad Stevens went deep into the rotation.

Kanter, Romeo Langford, Semi Oeieye, Brad Wanamaker, and Grant Williams all recorded important first half minutes. Boston’s lineup to begin the second quarter consisted of only one starter, Jayson Tatum, alongside Wanamaker, Langford, Williams, and Kanter.

The group helped turn the six-point deficit into a five-point lead.

“I never would have thought we would have stayed with that group for so long in the second quarter, and to their credit I could not take them out,” Stevens said. “Our bank really took a game that didn’t suit us and changed it.”

Tatum added: “The way the bank played at the end of the first and in the second quarter, just brought the physical toughness, at our end, back to the game. That was a big reason why we were back in the game and finally took the lead. ”

Tatum, sensibly, remained the primary source of crime, although others contributed when opportunities presented themselves. Kanter, for example, struck a wide open three-pointer – his first since April 2019 – with the shot clock. Wanamaker attacked an open track to the court for an easy inverted lineup. Malignant due to their lack of offensive fireworks, the reserves also made their impact defensively, helping the Sixers stay scoreless for a four-minute period.

Stevens acknowledged to the group that they were ‘superstars’ in their respective roles.

The Sixers have no answer for Jayson Tatum.

Tatum had quite the efficient shooting night, scoring a team-high 33 points in 31 minutes. He committed to 12 of his 20 field goals (60 percent) and 8 of his 12 three-point attempts (66.7 percent), including a 31-foot banking system in the final seconds of the first quarter.

“I want to be that man,” Tatum said. “I want to be able to make great plays, whether it’s scoring or making the right pass, because I get attention.”

Sixers coach Brett Brown made a change in his starting lineup, calling rookie Matisse Thybulle for Al Horford. While Thybulle is known to be a defensive pest, Tatum contains is where Philly really misses Ben Simmons, who is indefinitely sidelined after undergoing a kneeling procedure.

The Sixers have a whole lot of problems.

After such an ugly performance, it’s hard to imagine how Philly could steal a game from the Celtics.

As a result of the NBA’s’ bubble setup, the Sixers have no advantage in returning to the Wells Fargo Center, where they have lost only twice in the regular season. But their worries revolve around just the lack of benefit from home court.

Tobias Harris, who signed a five-year $ 180 million deal this offseason, finished 4th out of 15 on Wednesday, removing several buckets a player would be expected to sign on that contract. Horford, who signed a four-year deal, $ 109 million, was a shell of “Playoff Al,” in four points.

With two of the team’s big money players underperforming, Brown’s coaching decisions are only reinforced. In their pick-and-roll coverage, the Sixers have decided to keep Embiid at bay while the big roams of Boston are free on the perimeter. The result? Numerous open searches for the Celtics. As point guard Kemba Walker noted, he has not seen “as much space” in “a very long time”.

Brown will likely leave the strategy in Game 3, especially after Embiid’s comments about the postgame.

“I know they want me to stay on our pick-and-rolls and protect the course, but they just came down and made a lot of tries, so we had to adjust,” Embiid said. ‘Something needs to change. It feels too easy. They just run into those shots. We need to fix that. ”