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Boston\u2019s drop coverage, where the center backs off the pick-and-roll and invites a perimeter shot, allowed Edgecombe and Tyrese Maxey to get open 3-point looks. Maxey made 36.7 percent of his threes this season, just above league average, and the Celtics were willing to allow him to shoot threes instead of driving to the basket for layups and foul calls.<\/p>\n
Three Philadelphia layups were examples of the Celtics getting burned for pressing Maxey and Edgecombe at the 3-point line.<\/p>\n
With about 4:40 left and the 76ers up 8 points, Payton Pritchard and Neemias Queta pressed Maxey at the 3-point line and he took off right, missing a contested layup, but Andre Drummond trailed the play for an easy tip-in. Forcing Queta to press allowed Drummond freedom to crash the offensive boards, by far his best skill.<\/p>\n
With 2:42 left and the Celtics needing a stop, Derrick White chased Maxey away from the 3-point line and he darted left. Nikola Vucevic, in no-man\u2019s land near the top of the key checking Drummond, had no chance and Maxey drew contact from Jayson Tatum under the basket and made an acrobatic layup and free throw. Game over.<\/p>\n
Late in the third quarter, Baylor Scheierman chased Edgecombe off the arc and he drove left into a retreating Vucevic and his athleticism allowed for an easy bank shot. So protecting the 3-point line allowed for athletic drives from one of the league\u2019s more athletic backcourts.<\/p>\n
Three of the first four 3-pointers Edgecombe made were byproducts of overhelp on Maxey, which created a wide-open shooting window once Maxey passed off. Edgecombe\u2019s first 3-point make was contested against Scheierman. The fifth was on drop coverage where he was allowed to dribble into an open jumper, and the final was a dribble move on Pritchard when he was feeling it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s looking at the ones that he got and which ones came from things that we can control and which ones came out of the schematic ones we can be better at,\u201d Mazzulla said Wednesday. \u201cHe\u2019s a good player. He\u2019s going to get shots off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mazzulla was more concerned with two first-half 3-pointers from Quentin Grimes that were a byproduct of helping on Maxey and Paul George.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose are more impactful than some of the Edgecombe ones because that\u2019s another guy that\u2019s impacting the game,\u201d Mazzulla said. \u201cHe\u2019s a really good player and he can impact it there. [Kelly] Oubre missed a bunch in Game 1 that he got in Game 2. You\u2019ve got to go back and look at the ones that come schematically and which ones comes situational that we have to be better at.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, the game would have been more competitive had the Celtics made a couple more 3-pointers. They were 13 for 50 with the quintet of Sam Hauser, Jayson Tatum, Pritchard, White, and Vucevic making 7 of 34 (20.5 percent).<\/p>\n
In the series, Tatum, Pritchard and White are 9 for 45. The Celtics are going to need better offense to take control of this series and White\u2019s shooting woes have carried over from the regular season.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou gotta have that confidence that the next one is gonna go in,\u201d White said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to have that belief. I think if you get a good look, if it\u2019s an open look, you\u2019re hurting the team if you don\u2019t take it. You\u2019re making shots, it kind of covers over all the other mistakes you can make. But you\u2019re not making shots, all the little details just become more magnified, more important. You\u2019ve got to focus on the game plan, whether we make shots or miss shots, we can\u2019t get away from that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gary Washburn is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at gary.washburn@globe.com<\/a>. Follow him @GwashburnGlobe<\/a>.<\/p>\n