Daily News | Fast-break points have defined a deadlocked Sixers-Celtics series: ‘That’s the difference’
Robert Williams grabbed a rebound less than two minutes into Thursday’s critical Game 6 between the 76ers and Celtics, then hit Jayson Tatum for a quick pass in the middle of the floor. Boston’s All-Star guard kicked the ball ahead to Marcus Smart near the left wing, before the ball went back to a running Tatum under the basket.
“Right now, the transition game in this series is the difference in all the games,” Sixers coach Doc Rivers said following Thursday’s loss. “And they had it tonight.”James Harden cost the Sixers Game 6 and blamed the refs. He faces a do-or-die Game 7. Yet Boston has had the advantage in that statistical category in five of the six games of a playoff matchup that will go the distance. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the one time the Sixers had a dominant 15-5 edge was in Tuesday’s Game 5, their most emphatic victory of the series. Sixteen of the Celtics’ 24 fast-break points Thursday came in the first half, when they built a 16-point lead that the Sixers rallied to erase before faltering offensively down the stretch.
That guards Tyrese Maxey and James Harden, two below-average defenders, are often the Sixers’ initial line of defense in such scenarios is not ideal. But stifling transition play first requires the effort to sprint and turn. Communication is also important to account for each opposing player and not get “cross-matched” by having a big man wind up on a guard or vice versa — unless that’s by design, perhaps to put a longer or more physical defender in the path of a smaller ballhandler.
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