During the first two games of Joel Embiid’s return to the court in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Philadelphia 76ers’ once-elite offense was floundering. Amid a pair of losses to the Boston Celtics that flipped a 1-0 lead with homecourt advantage into 2-1 deficit without homecourt advantage, Philadelphia generated an offensive rating of 101.8. Since then, in back-to-back wins that have propelled the Sixers’ to a 3-2 lead heading home for Thursday’s Game 6, their offensive rating is 122.9.
At that heart of this is the revival of the Sixers’ bread-and-butter: the pick-and-roll between James Harden and Embiid. Boston’s offense has played well in its two wins this series, yet the crux of its success stems from stymying Philadelphia’s star duo operating in tandem. Beginning in Game 2, the Celtics decided to bring aggressive help to the nail, cheat up from the strong-side corner, and play off of P.J. Tucker as often as possible. That cramped the floor for Harden and Embiid.
The former couldn’t probe to his heart’s content and saw driving lanes dry up. His handle with his right is tenuous, so the Celtics forced him that direction (they’re still trying to, to be clear), sat on his left hip, and crowded him via a strong-side helper to curtail a live dribble. That all greatly impacted the latter, who received far fewer seamless pocket passes to his free-throw line office.
These two plays involve Jalen McDaniels, who Boston deemed a non-threat beyond the arc and has since been removed from Philadelphia’s rotation. But the theme remains: The Celtics were flocking attention toward Harden and Embiid, complicating passing angles and stalling the Sixers into a bunch of sticky, discontented possessions.
Following those two defeats full of listless offense, Doc Rivers has instituted numerous adjustments and counters. McDaniels hasn’t played the past two games. Philadelphia cut the rotation to eight in Game 4 and excised a non-shooter (at least how the Celtics see him) from the lineup. He’s opting for units geared toward optimal spacing and trusting his defensive stalwarts still in the rotation to cover for McDaniels’ absence.
The positioning of everyone around Harden and Embiid has been amended notably. The Sixers are clearing the wings more regularly and flattening along the baseline. They’re running more empty corner actions for Harden and Embiid to stress the rotation of a third defender into the show. They’re initiating screens higher up, sometimes in the backcourt to give Harden a greater head of steam and/or force a switch against a favorable matchup (basically, anyone aside from Jaylen Brown).
The dichotomy in where the screener for Harden stations himself on this patented Delay set below highlights one schematic tweak. In Game 2, Tobias Harris stayed in the near corner and the result was a contested mid-range pull-up for Harden. In Game 4, Tyrese Maxey relocated to the far corner, which opened a path for Embiid to dive and score. Jayson Tatum’s help at the nail is much less pronounced than Derrick White’s, as well.
Boston, deciding to close off the arc and trust its interior defense, has trended more conservative with its nail help the past two games after the Sixers went 16-for-37 from deep (43.2 percent) and 15-for-41 (36.6 percent) on twos in their Game 3 loss. Playoff series are about hammering pressure points and winning mercurial push-pull battles. These sorts of shifts exemplify that.
Not only is the Sixers’ long-range proficiency perhaps prompting Boston’s hand in its approach to help, but the Sixers are occupying help defenders better. Philadelphia’s offense does not incorporate much off-ball movement. Rivers stresses the importance of Embiid knowing where players will be and generally keeping static. Embiid expects them in specific spots in specific actions. There hasn’t been much weakside motion throughout Rivers’ tenure.
The past two games, however, he’s incorporated just a bit of window dressing to clear space for Harden and Embiid. It’s nothing complex or dramatic, but it’s been enough to conflict the Celtics’ help defenders and grant his stars the requisite room to boogie. The aforementioned adjustments, higher screening points and vacant wings, are effective as well.
With nobody at the wing on whichever side Embiid is rolling, nail help from a corner defender — as opposed to whoever is nearly parallel to Embiid at the free-throw line — is much harder. It’s a lengthier rotation. It’s usually someone Boston is less comfortable helping off of, a la Harris, rather than Tucker. Look where Tucker is on the ball-screens below. The rotation for his defender into Embiid’s orbit is largely atypical and highly demanding.
Philadelphia’s spacing has been calculated and tremendous the past two games — the difference from Games 1 and 2 is stark. The court’s been sprung open for Harden and Embiid.
— Jackson Frank (@jackfrank_jjf) May 10, 2023
After Game 4, it was reasonable to think Harden couldn’t score 42 on 16-for-23 shooting again, even with his torrid Game 1. For the Sixers to need that performance in a one-point overtime victory didn’t necessarily hint at a path to sustainable offense. After Game 5, though, the Celtics need to adapt. Maxey was having a good, albeit not great, night before they completely sold out to slow Harden and Embiid in the fourth quarter, which empowered him to thrive in space against a somewhat scattered, desperate defense.
Harden and Embiid were excellent, but nothing they did was unsustainable. They just picked apart Boston. Philadelphia’s slotted Tucker in the dunker spot rather than the corner more the past two games and Boston seems hesitant to abandon him there, given his offensive rebounding chops.
To slow this offense, the Celtics probably should abandon Tucker more commonly — it might be worth bringing back the preordained nail help to deter Harden’s automatic feeds to Embiid. Not being entranced by the subtle off-ball movement from the likes of Maxey, Harris, Tucker, and De’Anthony Melton should be another priority. Their motion didn’t really put them in more advantageous spots on the floor, yet the Celtics responded like it did. I’d wager that stuck out on film.
Boston extinguished the bedrock of Philadelphia’s offense for two games and took charge of this series. The Sixers ushered in necessary changes and wrestled back control. Those changes have pushed them to the brink of their first Eastern Conference Finals in 22 years. They also have this Celtics club, once a juggernaut roaring through every team, eyeing a second-round exit. Philadelphia’s been much better tactically through five games. Boston will have to close that gap to extend its season.