Throughout his Philadelphia 76ers tenure, head coach Nick Nurse has taken his fair share of criticism -- and rightly so. However, when his offensive game plans do pay off, the praise should be as loud as the hate. In Game 5 against the Boston Celtics, Nurse understood the urgency of the moment and chose to beat his opponent at their own game by leaning into a high-volume three-point attack. For the first time in this series, the 76ers attempted more shots from deep than the Celtics.
It is hardly a secret that Joe Mazzula and the Boston Celtics emphasise three-point shooting, no matter who their opponent is. Even if that tactic is not paying dividends, this roster lives and dies by this philosophy. During the regular season, Boston ranked fourth overall for three-pointers attempted per game (42.1). This number has only increased in their playoff series with Philadelphia; before Game 5, the Celtics averaged 48.5 attempts, the highest tally in the entire postseason.
Whether it was a genius move or born out of necessity, Nick Nurse implemented an obvious tactical tweak in Game 5 as Philadelphia chalked up a vital 113-97 victory over Boston.
The 76ers must continue to match the Celtics' shooting number from deep
Unfortunately, in this day and age of the NBA, teams would rather attempt a contested shot from deep instead of a perfectly timed action from the playbook. This is hardly a new revelation, and the Celtics have proven that not only does this win games if utilised correctly, but it wins championships. The only way to prevent Boston from creating an insurmountable deficit is by matching their style of play and doing so with great effect. In Game 5, the 76ers did exactly this.
Paul George set the aggressive tempo early, releasing a three-point attempt with the first shot of the game and draining it with ease. Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, and VJ Edgecombe all followed suit by firing long-range shots at any moment that Boston gave them an inch of room. Did the shot always land? No, but it did pose the defenders questions they had not been asked in recent games, and created more space on the interior for Embiid to get to his spot and accumulate 33 points.
Before Game 5, the 76ers never came close to matching the Celtics' tally from deep. They had averaged 31.8 three-point attempts per game. Despite this, Philadelphia managed to chalk up 42 shots from outside of the arc during the victory, three more than Boston (39). Most importantly, they were more successful from this range (35.7%) than their opponents (28.2%).
The Philadelphia 76ers cannot afford to slip back into old habits and rely on work on the interior to win games. Evidence would suggest that the Boston Celtics have an offensive blueprint they are going to stick to, and chances are, in Game 6, they will record a higher level of efficiency. Nick Nurse and his players have no choice but to continue to fight fire with fire if they wish to drag out this series to seven games and pull off a victory that nobody predicted.
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