10 takeaways from the Celtics picking apart the Sixers

#1 - Targeting Embiid

There are games like this one where the strategy is so obvious, you start to feel bad for the targeted player. That’s how I felt after the first quarter of this game against the Sixers. As soon as the ball was in the Celtics’ hands, the goal was to attack Joël Embiid’s lack of mobility.

With various setups, the Celtics went at the 2023 MVP relentlessly and generated good shots out of it. At first, Joël Embiid was at the screen level, so the Celtics used that against him and drove deep into the paint.

To avoid opening the driving lane, the 76ers adjusted their approach, keeping Joël Embiid in a drop where he remained low in the paint to protect the rim. This, in turn, led…