Lynam: Celtics Don’t Have No One To Guard Embiid

One of the positives in the 76ers loss by 16 points to the Celtics on Monday Night was the play of Joel Embiid; the All-Star Center tallied 31 Points, 13 Rebounds and 5 Assists while the rest of the team struggled shooting only 37.1 Percent.  In his first four playoff games, Embiid is averaging 21.8 Points, 11 Rebounds, and 2.3 Blocks while shooting 38.5 Percent from Three Point Range.  Embiid has been a force of nature all season long as he finished the regular season ranked in the top ten in the NBA in Blocks Per Game (1.8), Rebounds Per Game (11.0) and Defensive Rating (100.5).

NBC Sports Philadelphia Pre/Post Game Sixers Analyst Jim Lynam joined Mike Gill on Thursday discussing Joel Embiid's role in the Sixers Offensive Adjustments for Game Two with the Celtics:

“I love the idea of utilizing Embiid because the Celtics don’t have no one to guard him and the fact that he scored the 31 Points (and) made more than half his shots attests to that.  But you have to be careful of not falling into a trap of doing that too frequently where it gets you stagnant and I think that was one of the problems (in Game One), Brett Brown said ‘We lost our rhythm’ – Sometimes what happens  when you try to pinpoint and use a mismatch too frequently it kind of brings (your offense) to a grinding halt in terms of movement….One of the things I loved about the Sixers offense since the first of the year, they had a tremendous combination of having all the guys involved but still being able to utilize the talents of both Simmons and Embiid.  They have to get back to that tonight.”

Hear what Lynam had to say about Brett Brown's strategy for Game Two, expectations for Ben Simmons on Thursday Night, and if Markelle Fultz has a potential role in this series