Robert Williams III serves the Celtics, Joe Mazzulla in Game 6 mortal

Yaron Weitzman

FOX Sports NBA Writer

PHILADELPHIA – After the press conference was over, Joe Mazzulla had a question for the reporters in the room.

His Boston Celtics just defeated Philadelphia 76ers in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference semifinals, and Mazzulla, aware of the public criticism directed at him – that, as 34-year-old first-time head coach, he He wasn’t prepared for this moment, and more specifically, that he didn’t make the right adjustments in the game — wanting to make a point.

“No one wants to ask about all the tweaks we made from Game 1 to Game 2?” he asked reporters before storming off the podium. His face was stern. This is a sarcasm, not an attempt to be sarcastic.

About a week later, going into Game 6 and with his Celtics reeling and one loss away from elimination, Mazzulla decided to make a change. This adjustment will be huge, which will swap a guard — White Derrick – to another big man. However, not just any big guy. Robert William III. One of the top belt guards in the league, a player who is on the field and gets along well with his teammates Al-Horford helped get the Celtics last season into the Finals.

“Give us a different look,” Mazzulla replied during the pre-match press conference when asked why the roster change was. “At his best, Rob helps us up, especially defensively. Just his presence in the box, his defense and his counter-attack.”

Before the game, Mazzulla shared his decision with the players.

“I’m ecstatic about it,” Celtics defender Smart Marcus speak. And just a few minutes after the announcement, everything was clear. Behind their defence, the Celtics maintained their season with a 95-86 win in Game 6 in Philadelphia on Thursday, setting up victory or home in Game 7 on Sunday in Boston.

As for Williams, he finished the game with 10 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks after 28 minutes of play. In those minutes, the Celtics were 18 points ahead of the Sixers. In 19 minutes with Williams and Horford together on the field, the Celtics achieved a net rating of 25.1.

“I’ll tell you what,” Horford said after the game, “I’m so glad Joe made that adjustment and we did it, because it’s so different.”

“To be able to have Rob in it, he changed the game,” Smart said.

“It made a huge, huge difference,” Brown Jaylen speak.

“Even if he doesn’t block shots, his presence, contesting shots or changing shots, it makes all the difference,” Jayson Tatum speak.

Following the takeover of the suspended Ime Udoka, Mazzulla left the two major tournament setup that Udoka had driven the previous year. The pair played just 332 minutes together over the course of the season, and while they have beaten their opponents, edging them out by 15.9 points out of 100 possessions, Mazzulla likes to build his squad with a mind that is end-of-floor attack. He believes good attack is fundamental to good defence – and having a non-shooter like Williams on the floor will stop the Celtics from playing the first half. With the Celtics ending the regular season with 2nd place in the league on both offensive fronts And defensive effectiveness, it’s hard to argue.

But the knockout stage was different, and in the knockout round, the Celtics defense fell into the abyss. Going into Game 6, they had won 114.2 points out of 100 possessions, a number that in the regular season would have ranked 19th in the NBA. In game 5, James Harden And Joel Embiid engraved them in pick-and-roll.

Williams’ presence changed all that. Celtics threw him in the ring, let the Sixers advance PJ Tucker, a reluctant and continuous shooter that opens in the corner. With Williams lurking, Harden – who finished with just 13 points while misshooting 12 of his 16 shots and hitting the ball past five – had no way into the ring. Meanwhile, Horford was able to focus on taking away high passes for Embiid.

This change prompted the Sixers’ attack. They seemed uncertain about how to counter-attack, shooting only 36% from the field and letting the Celtics take a 15-3 lead. The Sixers later erased that deficit, but their offense never recovered.

“You know, I think the ball doesn’t move for the first three or four possessions,” said Sixers head coach Doc Rivers.

“He’s been ahead every time,” added Embiid, who picked up 26 points but suffered just nine to 19 from the field and had only one assist, while also coughing up the ball four times. “So that’s where we get that trust and, you know, keep moving the ball and looking for people and, you know, trust each other.”

Part of that will come from knocking open hits. The Sixers only connected with eight of the 34 deep dives on Thursday night, although many of them were clean. Rivers could also counterattack by removing Tucker from the lineup and inserting another shooter – in his post-match press conference, he pointed out by Georges Niang The performance in game 6 is something he’s proud of – this will force Williams to spend more time encircling or defending Embiid. Either way, he won’t be lurking around the rims anymore.

In the meantime, Mazzulla can enjoy a 48-hour window to discuss his adjustments.

“Joe is learning, like all of us, you know,” Smart said after the win. “I know he got killed a lot – right, you know. He needed to make some adjustments. And he did.”

Yaron Weitzman is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. He is the author of “Reaching to the Top: Philadelphia 76ers and the boldest run in professional sports history.” Follow him on Twitter @YaronWeitzman.

Get more from the National Basketball Association Follow your favorites to get game info, news and more