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What's Wrong With Celtics? Joe Mazzulla Reveals What Flipped Series Vs. 76ers originally appeared on NESN. Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
After dominating the first four and a half games of their first-round playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers, the last six quarters have been disastrous for the Boston Celtics. They've been outscored by 36 points, going cold offensively while struggling to contain Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid and Paul George.
The Celtics' offense has been particularly concerning. After ending Game 5 in a horrendous shooting slump, those struggles carried over into Game 6. In three of the six games this series, Boston's offense has scored fewer than 100 points.
That's shocking for a team that averaged 114.9 points per game during the regular season and ranked second in offensive rating.
Coming off back-to-back losses and facing a Game 7 at home on Saturday, Joe Mazzulla explained how the Sixers have managed to get back in the series.
"We haven't played that well and they played well. I think obviously the series has changed once Embiid came back," Mazzulla said during his Game 6 postgame press conference. "We have to be able to adjust to that identity that they found and get our identity for Game 7."
Mazzulla is right that Embiid's return in Game 4 has given Philadelphia a massive spark. After missing the first three games of the series due to his emergency appendectomy, the former MVP hasn't skipped a beat, averaging 26.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 7.3 assists.
The Celtics lack size in the frontcourt, and Embiid is exposing that. Boston clearly needs to make some adjustments if it wants to win Game 7 and avoid a historic collapse.
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