BOSTON – Much of the talk after Boston’s Game 1 victory over the 76ers will revolve around how the Celtics limited Philadelphia to 5-for-26 shooting from long range. What may be more important, however, were the 3-pointers that Philadelphia was never able to attempt.
Limiting Philadelphia’s clean 3-point attempts, and in particular those by sharpshooters J.J. Redick and Marco Belinelli, was just as important to Boston’s game plan as containing Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. The C’s simply couldn’t afford to let those shooters get going and open up the court for the Sixers’ well-known stars.
“It was pretty high on the list,” said Shane Larkin, who was one spoke of a four-defender wheel that chased Redick and Belinelli around.