Philadelphia 76ers avoid sweep, beat Celtics 103-92 in Game 4

The Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Boston Celtics 103-92 to avoid a four-game sweep. The Celtics now lead the series 3-1.

The Philadelphia 76ers will live to play another day after defeating the Boston Celtics 103-92 in Game 4.

Let’s dive into what made that win possible.

STARTERS — ADVANTAGE SIXERS

Philadelphia’s starters outscored Boston’s starters 85-64. The difference makers in this game was T.J. McConnell (19 points, 0 turnovers) and Dario Saric (25 points, 0 turnovers). Boston’s starters were led by Jayson Tatum with 20 points, but he had to take 16 shots to get there.

BENCH — EVEN

Marcus Morris has played a solid series for Boston and scored 17 points, which matched Ersan Ilyasova, Marco Belinelli and Robert Covington, who collectively totaled 18 points.

COACHING — ADVANTAGE SIXERS

Give Brett Brown credit in that he eventually figured things out. By benching Robert Covington and starting T.J. McConnell, Philadelphia has a better offensive flow and actually got dribble penetration to the basket.

In addition, there is less pressure on Ben Simmons to look to be offensively aggressive, which is not right now in his nature. McConnell also forced Boston’s Terry Rozier to work defensively and did a good job defending both Rozier and Tatum when switched onto him.

Brown also focused on Philadelphia getting the ball inside and forcing Boston to play low post defense. Give Philadelphia credit in that they continued to play inside-out even when they missed inside shots early.

Even when they missed, Boston did not have the run-out fastbreak chances that they would get in greater quantity with missed three-point attempts.

STATISTICS — ADVANTAGE SIXERS

T.J. McConnell played 39 minutes and scored 19 points (9-12 shooting) with seven rebounds, five assists and zero turnovers. Dario Saric scored 25 points (9-17 shooting) with eight rebounds, four assists and zero turnovers.

Philadelphia won with J.J. Redick, Marco Belinelli, Ersan Ilyasova and Robert Covington shooting a collective 8-35. Philadelphia had only eight turnovers for the game.

HOW CAN THE SIXERS WIN GAME 5?

Philadelphia must start the same lineup and play inside-out as they did this game. Philadelphia must also understand that the game will be more physical and Boston will not be called for the same fouls that were called in Philadelphia, so they must keep their composure.

Saric has to continue to be offensively aggressive. Limit Robert Covington to 15 minutes playing time. Ben Simmons cannot commit foolish turnovers. Embiid and Simmons together can have no more than five turnovers between them.

Brad Stevens will also adjust and attempt to get T.J. McConnell in bad defensive match-ups with switches. Philadelphia should attempt the out-front trap just to stop dribble penetration and not hard trap all the time. This strategy forces Boston into restarting their offense with less time on the shot clock without rotating.

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When help rotating, give up the corner shot to Aron Baynes and force whoever has the ball at the three-point wing to pass it down to the corner for Boston’s three-point attempt. Both Smart and Tatum shoot threes better from the wing than the corner.

Philadelphia must hang around the first five minutes of each half. Philadelphia has nothing to lose and the pressure is on Boston to close out this series in five games.

Please Brett Brown, use your time outs to stop runs.

AROUND THE NBA

How does Dwayne Casey look as Coach of the Year after his favored Raptors got swept by Cleveland?

If Cleveland gets back to the Finals and loses to Golden State again, does LeBron James jump ship and leave Cleveland? Also, for all you LBJ haters, would the addition of LeBron James next season be enough to get the Philadelphia 76ers past Boston with both Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving back?

Next: Embiid post-ups are not the answer

Will DeMarcus Cousins resign with the Pelicans? Stay tuned for As the NBA Turns.

Sixers avoid sweep, win 103-92

By Ken Jaskulski | May 7, 2018