Sixers Advance! Embiid’s Dominance, Mazzulla Questions, and Knicks Preview.

Summary

The Zach Lowe Show – Sixers Advance! Embiid’s Dominance, Mazzulla Questions, and Knicks Preview

Date: May 3, 2026 | Host: Zach Lowe | Guest: Michael Pina

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Episode Overview

In this fast-paced, late-night special, Zach Lowe and Michael Pina dissect the Philadelphia 76ers’ dramatic Game 7 victory over the Boston Celtics. They break down the Sixers’ comeback from a 3-1 deficit, Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey’s masterclass performances, Joe Mazzulla’s bizarre strategies for Boston, and what went wrong for the Celtics after a dominant regular season. The episode closes with an in-depth preview of the upcoming Sixers-Knicks second-round series, debating whether either team now stands as the favorite in the Eastern Conference.

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Sixers Triumph: Game 7 Breakdown

Embiid and Maxey’s Mastery

• Sixers rally from 31 down to defeat the Celtics in Boston, exercising past playoff demons (03:14).
• Embiid’s “masterpiece” game: 34 points, 12 rebounds, and 6 assists—one of his best postseason outings, notably with only 1 turnover (05:35, 05:44, 05:53).
• Maxey’s ascendance: 30 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists, single turnover. Lowe and Pina praise his ability to excel no matter the defensive scheme Boston throws at him.
  • Quote (Zach Lowe, 05:53): “Tyrese Maxey is that dude. He is that guy... he beat every single scheme the Celtics threw at him in this series.”
• Vijay Edgecombe’s impact: Not a headliner but quietly played 45 minutes of “completely fearless” and fundamental basketball (07:30).

Celtics Collapse & Strategy Critique

• Bizarre Celtics starting lineup: Joe Mazzulla starts with Ron Harper Jr. and Luca Garza, surprising everyone—including Lowe:
  • Quote (Zach Lowe, 03:59): “Bizarro starting five from Joe Mazzulla. I was like jaw on the floor…”
• Injury storyline: Celtics’ Jayson Tatum (left leg) doesn’t play. Missoula says he is day-to-day, but there’s no next round (09:08).
• Missed opportunities: Boston rallies late, cutting it to 99–98, but misses five strong looks in the clutch; shooting woes return (04:23–05:32).
• Embiid injury scares: Multiple moments where it looked like Embiid might be out, but he powers through (04:20).

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Key Game Themes & Analytics

Why Did the Celtics Lose?

• Shooting struggles: 13 of 49 from three, with a chunk being “good” looks (17:07, 19:15).
  • Quote (Zach Lowe, 19:25): “They missed a lot of good shots.”
• Over-reliance on threes: Pina and Lowe question if “Missoula Ball” (prioritizing threes, low turnovers, little variation) is a sustainable playoff philosophy (17:29, 18:36).
• Offensive stagnation: The absence of Tatum and Boston’s trade-depleted depth catch up with them—Pina: “There was actually a price to be paid for all these big guys who walked out the door” (11:16).
• Rebounding regression: Boston’s offensive rebounding rate drops precipitously vs. Philly, which the hosts highlight as decisive (20:15).

Philadelphia’s Resilience and Evolution

• Maxey’s growth: “Best player in the series,” beats Boston’s defensive plans with variety and poise, including “give-and-go” brilliance with Embiid (08:41).
• Sixers’ mid-series transformation: Suddenly become the team fans hoped they could be (10:10).
  • Quote (Zach Lowe, 10:50): “And then instantaneously they became that team and it sustained again tonight.”

Joe Mazzulla’s Coaching Decisions

• Creativity vs. panic: While innovation is praised, Pina worries Boston became “so far out of its character in the biggest game of the season that it seems almost alarming and crazy” (16:17).
• Zone defense & small-ball attempts: Out-of-character moves that work briefly but ultimately hint at desperation (16:06–16:44).

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Notable Moments & Quotes

• Zach Lowe (Game’s chaotic feel, 03:14):

  “I don’t know if it was a classic. I don’t know if it was pretty. I don’t know if it was ugly… but they played a memorable game seven…”

• Michael Pina (On Boston’s collapse, 10:58):

  “Boston kind of became the team that I feared they would be at the start of the season…"

• Zach Lowe (Missoula’s wild moves, 16:06):

  “I’m not sure Joe Mazzulla is playing chess tonight. He might have been playing Boggle.”

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Celtics’ Offseason Reckoning

• Questions loom about their big-man rotation, roster depth, and offensive philosophy (23:38).
• Lowe notes Celtics have some flexibility via picks and extensions but dramatic change is unlikely unless they “look at very, very big ticket items” (23:41).
• The series loss is framed as a “little bit of a referendum” on whether the high-variance, three-heavy style can consistently succeed in the playoffs (18:36).

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Playoff Preview: Sixers vs. Knicks

Are the Sixers or Knicks East Favorites Now?

• Knicks are deeper and healthier: "The Knicks should be favored. They're deeper, they're healthier." (29:44)
• Sixers’ upside if healthy — “This Philly team playing like this can beat anybody in the East. We knew that… we just never thought it would actually emerge” (27:09).

Matchup X-factors

• Embiid’s health: Top storyline. How will New York guard him if he’s upright? (27:21)
• Sixers’ small-ball success: Knicks must decide on using double bigs with Mitchell Robinson and KAT. Potential cross-matching could see Embiid guarding Josh Hart (30:26).
• Maxey’s matchup: Knicks will likely throw Mikal Bridges and Deuce McBride at him; Jalen Brunson will be hidden on Kelly Oubre (31:40).
• Revenge & prior drama: Embiid and Robinson’s history, previous Sixers-Knicks contentious moments, and Coach Nurse’s chess matches vs. Thibodeau (29:47, 32:01, 32:47).
  • Quote (Zach Lowe, 32:47): “That series two years ago was a classic… It featured Maxey in game five, like single handedly keeping the Sixers alive.”
• OG Anunoby and Cat (KAT): Both playing at an elite level, add different matchup wrinkles for Philly to solve (34:27).

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:14 – Recap of wild Sixers–Celtics Game 7 and shock at Mazzulla’s rotations
• 05:35–06:44 – Embiid and Maxey’s stat lines and series-long dominance
• 07:30 – Edgecombe’s unheralded impact
• 10:10–10:53 – Sixers become the team they were “supposed to be”
• 16:06–16:44 – Questioning Joe Mazzulla’s coaching and unusual strategies
• 17:07–19:26 – Boston’s shooting woes & limits of “Missoula Ball”
• 23:38–24:44 – Celtics’ coming offseason, roster, and contract decisions
• 26:47–29:47 – Preview of Sixers-Knicks; debate on East favorites
• 30:26–33:34 – Deep-dive on tactical matchups (Embiid’s assignment, Maxey’s coverage, KAT’s role)
• 34:27–34:49 – Talk about OG Anunoby’s all-star level production and wrapping up

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Conclusion

The episode delivers a thorough postmortem on a season-defining Game 7 and a forward-looking preview of the playoffs’ next act, blending tactical nuance, statistical insight, and a dash of late-night humor. Zach and Michael expertly balance celebration for Philly’s resilience and individual stars with pointed questions about Boston’s direction and coaching. The Knicks-Sixers series is teed up as a fitting grudge match with real stakes for the entire East.

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Memorable Sign-off:

"Celtics out. Sixers move on. Lots to reckon with for the Celtics. We'll get more into that as the week goes on." — Michael Pina (34:49)
"Good night. Sleep well. Two more game sevens tomorrow." — Zach Lowe (35:04)

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Next up: Lowe will guest on The Bill Simmons Podcast to continue the Celtics postmortem, and the show returns Tuesday with more NBA playoff breakdowns.

Transcript

[Zach Lowe]

This episode is brought to you by State Farm.

[Michael Pina]

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[Zach Lowe]

Coming up on a late night Saturday night, Zach Low show.

[Michael Pina]

Michael Pinaz here.

[Zach Lowe]

Whoo.

[Michael Pina]

Game seven, the two sweetest words in sports. We had the first of three of them tonight and Mike and I react to the Boston Celtics bowing out at the hands of the Philadelphia 76ers behind Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. And playoff P&VJ Edscomb rally from 31 down. Exercise some demons for prior playoff series, including 2023 in Boston in a Game 7, an awesome, awesome game that featured some interesting strategy from the Celtics to open the game without Jason Tatum. That was the other big headliner. Learn more, presumably about how how he was injured and what his prognosis is. But he didn't play tonight and the Sixers went in and took care of business on the road and they go on to face the Knicks. Michael and I talk about the whole game, what happened in the game, how it got close, how the Sixers pulled away in the end, masterpiece by maxi, masterpiece by Embiid against the Celtics team that tried everything on defense from zone to guarding him with smalls, all kinds of crazy stuff. Talk a bit about Boston's off season, how they got here, what happened in this series, what happened during the regular season? Was it a mirage? Was it not a mirage? What about Joe Missoula and Missoula ball?

[Zach Lowe]

And then we look ahead a little bit to Nick Sixers second round playoff

[Michael Pina]

series, a rematch from a very fun first round series two years ago. And is the winner the favorite to come out of the east at this point? The way the four teams that are playing game sevens are playing right now, no one is made a convincing case that it's not the Knicks or not the Sixers if the Sixers win. So we'll talk a lot about all

[Zach Lowe]

that stuff coming up on a late

[Michael Pina]

night Saturday night Zach Lowe show with Michael Pena.

[Zach Lowe]

The Zach Lowe show is brought to you by fanduel.

[Michael Pina]

It's been a wild playoff run, but

[Zach Lowe]

it's not over yet.

[Michael Pina]

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[Zach Lowe]

Welcome to a special Saturday night edition of the Zach Lowe Show.

[Unidentified Guest Analyst]

Why?

[Zach Lowe]

Because the Philadelphia 76ers and the Boston Celtics I don't know if it was a classic. I don't know if it was pretty. I don't know if it was ugly. I know there was a lot of trash talk and shoves into shoves into shoves and a lot of stuff happened. But they played a memorable game seven and the Philadelphia 76ers the star crossed process bizarro last 15 years Philadelphia 76ers go into Boston, come complete the rally from three one down, exercise some demons maybe it is the site of perhaps the lowest moment of Joel Embiid's career. A total game seven no show in the second round in 2023 and he's going to try to get revenge on another postseason defeat next round against the New York Knicks. There's a lot to unpack here, a lot of Celtics obituary stuff to do, but let's just headlines Michael Pinata Bizarro starting five from Joe Missoula. I was like jaw on the floor when I turned on the game and saw who was on the court for the Boston Celtics, at least one of whom, Ron Harper Jr. Never saw the

[Michael Pina]

floor again after a disastrous start. I'm sure that he would like to

[Zach Lowe]

have that one back. There were like four Joel Embiid injury scares, including one where Jaylen Brown pushed off Tyrese Maxey and pushed Tyrese Maxey into Joel Embiid's knee. There was an Embiid technical for a hostile act on Jalen Brown after the buzzer. There was a super exciting Boston rally that began at the end of the third quarter with the Jalen Brown three and a Derrick White buzzer beater where I thought he traveled in real time before he made the shot and it got to 9998 with about four minutes left and then the Celtics missed five pretty goddamn good shots in a row. Jaylen Brown Missed a three. Jalen Brown missed a jumper over Vijay Edgecombe. Peyton Pritchard missed a run out.

[Michael Pina]

Corner three, a five on four, fast break.

[Zach Lowe]

Corner three, where you just know the leprechauns are in the sky. It's Joel Embiid. The freaking It's Joel Embiid. A night after the same basket in Toronto produced the most heart wrenching bounce of his career. The Kawhi Leonard shot, you know that shot by Peyton Pritchard is going in. It doesn't go in. Then Jalen Brown does the push off aforementioned. He misses a little jumper. He Sam Houser misses at three, it's game over. We can talk about all that, but

[Michael Pina]

let's talk about this to start with.

[Zach Lowe]

Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Vijay Edscomb scored 87 of Philadelphia's 109 points. Joel Embiid 34 points, 12 rebounds, six assists. And I'm going to save another critical

[Michael Pina]

stat for a second from now.

[Zach Lowe]

Tyrese Maxey 30 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists. Both of them one turnover apiece. That's the stat I was saving. Tyrese Maxey is that dude. He is that guy. He's been a stud in the playoffs pretty much every time he's gotten into the playoffs and he beat every single

[Michael Pina]

scheme the Celtics threw at him in this series when they were showing nail

[Zach Lowe]

help like they do, like Boston loves to do. In the first couple of games he made the right pass to his open shooters. When they stopped doing that and said we'll play you two on two, he, he made pull up threes in their eyes and when they brought the screener higher, he roasted them for layups just like he did down the stretch of this game twice.

[Michael Pina]

Denim esqueda.

[Zach Lowe]

When Boston started icing pick and rolls

[Michael Pina]

in the middle of the series toward

[Zach Lowe]

the side of the floor, Tyrese Maxey said thank you very much. I'll take that side of the floor and I'll beat you with mid range

[Michael Pina]

jumpers and other stuff.

[Zach Lowe]

A masterpiece series from a legit flat out superstar and Joel Freaking Embiid.

[Michael Pina]

All the heartbreak, all the playoff losses,

[Zach Lowe]

the tears in Toronto, the injuries, the appendicitis that was like yesterday basically comes out in a game seven in a place where he melted down alongside James Harden was like a meltdown by association in that game and puts up 34 points on pretty efficient shooting. Good enough defense, all things considered, one of the most important and best performances of his career. Even though it's only the first round. Hats off to those three. And Vijay Edgecomb just Like not going to be the headliner. 45, 44 minutes and just does everything right.

[Michael Pina]

Completely fearless.

[Zach Lowe]

What we. There's a lot from Boston but just hat tip to those three guys and the Sixers. Awesome game.

[Michael Pina]

I can't wait for the next round. Where'd you like to start now?

[Unidentified Guest Analyst]

I guess we could start with Maxi who you've already covered a little bit, but I just. The entire series he was unstoppable. Boston had no solution as you just outlined. Bringing Biggs up to touch blow by for a layup basically every time. Yeah. No chance you're in a drop. He's going to hit the pull up three. You try to deny. He gives the ball to Embiid, cuts back door. Their give and go was money the entire series. The baseline step back jumper that he just in his bag basically the entire series and tonight. And I thought that after Pritchard missed that corner three that that was the game. Honestly, I think there was like two minutes to go and it was a one point game. It just felt like if that went in that Boston was probably going to win the basketball game. And when it didn't, Maxi reverse layup coming down the other end immediately. And then on the next position after that, driving layup past Kata I believe on a blow. And the fact that he still has that he had that burst and that speed at that point in the game is just amazing. I don't. I don't even know what to say about it. So he was. He's the best player on the team. He was the best player in the series. And shout out to him. I can't wait to see what he does in the second round.

[Michael Pina]

Unbelievable performance by him. The whole series through. And by the way stood up much better on defense as the series went on than I thought he would against Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. That should have been the headliner. Jason Tatum out tonight with a left leg injury. Joe Missoula said he was day to day. It doesn't matter anymore. There's no next round to come back for. Hopefully Embiid was doing the post game interview on the floor. He looked like he was in good spirits. I think he had his son out there with him. Hopefully that's an indicator that whatever he did to his knee and then he was on the, on the floor like nursing his right side at one point. Hopefully that's all okay. But Maxi was unbelievable. Embiid was unbelievable. And just a gritty comeback from 31 down. The alarm bells for me started actually going off in game Three. And I've talked about this already, which the Celtics squeaked out in Philly.

[Zach Lowe]

And it.

[Michael Pina]

It felt like, ooh, no, Embiid, that. That's a little bit of a. That was a too hard of a game almost for them. And since that game, Embiid found his footing and just what a bizarro game for the Celtics.

[Zach Lowe]

You know, they kind of. It's. It's.

[Michael Pina]

We had some people over last night to, to do. To watch, to watch my silly cameo on your friends and Neighbors. We had a little bit of a mini watch party and one of them was a Sixers fan. And he came and he's. He was just giddy. And I was like, he was still talking about the sequence of around the back, the behind the back passes and Kelly Oubre dunks from game six. And I said to him, I was like, it just felt like they magically became the team everybody thought that they could be, but no one ever thought that they ever actually would be. And they never were. And it didn't look like they were ever going to be. Have time to become that team.

[Zach Lowe]

And then instantaneously they became that team

[Michael Pina]

and it sustained again tonight.

[Zach Lowe]

And similarly, Boston kind of became the

[Michael Pina]

team that I feared they would be at the start of the season when I was far too low on them. I took the under on 42 and a half and. And my reasons were after giving away like five rotation guys, including your entire proven front court, to duck all the aprons and eventually the tax justifiable.

[Zach Lowe]

They may they made out well in all those trades.

[Michael Pina]

But like, I don't trust any of the big men on the team. Like none of them have proven that they can do anything in NBA rotation. And without Tatum, I was like, are they deep enough? And they proved me so sillily wrong the entire season by being maybe the best story in the NBA.

[Zach Lowe]

And then they got to the playoffs

[Michael Pina]

and I mean, Kada played like an unbelievable game tonight. 17 and 12. He had two quarterback keepers. He had a dunk like almost the game of his life. And it was all found money for an offense that needed it. But they kind of became that team where it's like, oh yeah, there was actually a price to be paid for all these big guys who walked out the door. And obviously Tatum missing the game hurt them, but it was just a weird team destiny swap happened in real time. And I'm still kind of shell shocked from it.

[Unidentified Guest Analyst]

Yeah, 100%. I think the player in the series who kind of encapsulates that to me is Paul George, who was fantastic. I think he was sick coming into tonight's game and he only finished with 13 points on 10 shots, played 42 minutes and got by the way and

[Michael Pina]

just, I just want to say this before I forget, got blocked at the rim by Jaylen Brown at the end of the game on a crazy good spin move around Derrick White in the post in a game that had like four crazy blocks at the rim. Embiid on Jalen Brown, Derrick White on Croydon Grimes. Just like what a. Just a ton of great plays in the game. But anyway, continue on pg.

[Unidentified Guest Analyst]

Incredible game, but he was just an assassin and they, you know, they would run plays for him out of timeouts. That was kind of Nick Nurse's go to in the series either. The, you know, his signature ISOs on the wing he had. Doesn't really matter who was guarding him in those situations, whether it was Derrick White, too small, Jaylen Brown couldn't really handle him and they'd run him off screens. He hit a couple of huge threes. He had a step back three that was just absolutely disgusting. I can't remember who that was over on the left wing, but he's just the fact that he looks like Paul George completely changes how people should look at the Philadelphia 76ers. And if he is for real in the next round, that's going to be really interesting. But to your also your point about, you know, Boston's front court and being thin, you know, Vuch taken out of

[Michael Pina]

the rotation tonight, when you said if there's a player that symbolizes all of this team destiny swap thing that I'm talking about, I thought you were going to say Nicola Vuchevic. The front court solution that they added at the trade deadline for a player and Anthony Simon who was actually useful to them and Vuch in the end, when it really mattered, was not useful to them.

[Unidentified Guest Analyst]

No, he was, you know, I don't want to say he's. He's washed up and he can't, I don't, I don't know, I don't want to, you know, throw dirt on him right now, but he just had an absolutely terrible series. Couldn't move, couldn't guard. Maxi obviously had difficult in the pick and roll, couldn't guard Embiid, couldn't rebound so didn't play. Wasn't really surprising to me. Luga Garza starting, also cannot guard Joel Embiid and I thought it was really interesting. You know, they go zone at the start of the four quarter and that really stifled Philadelphia's Offense and, you know, guarding him. They guarded Embiid with Hugo Gonzalez. They guarded him with Jalen Brown a ton. They had Jordan Walsh on him for a couple possessions. I think, like, they just didn't have the horses to go. Just like a terrible matchup in a situation like this. And kudos to Joel Embiid for capitalizing. Kudos for him to staying upright. I thought he was going to go out of the game multiple times, as you said. I didn't know if the appendicitis was acting up. He was clutching his side. He was stretching on the bench there. He had guys falling into his knees. He was limping. So just kind of a remarkable, gutsy performance by him on the offensive end for sure. And I thought Boston was starting to figure things out offensively, particularly with Jaylen Brown, who, if Boston won this game, it would be like a capstone performance for him. I know he's won finals mvp, but he played tremendously down the stretch. And they had something hunting Maxi, I thought Maxi. You know, he's very physical. They had him in, you know, picking up fouls, trying to deny entry, passes to Jalen, and Jalen had a couple and ones on the. On mismatches. When they did switch, they were trying to hedge earlier in the game, didn't really want to switch. But, yeah, just a great chess match. Just an awesome, physical basketball game. Both teams exhausted everything that they had and super entertaining.

[Michael Pina]

Yeah, I'm not sure. You know, everyone always says it's. It's the playoffs is chess not checkers.

[Zach Lowe]

I'm not sure Joe Mazzullo is playing chess tonight. I think he's, like. He might have been playing Boggle. Like, I'm not really sure what board game was being played, but the starting lineup was absolutely bizarre. And look, you.

[Michael Pina]

You like a coach who's willing to make creative adjustments and think ahead of the game. There's some kind of line between that and a team just getting so far out of its character in the biggest game of this season that it seems almost alarming and crazy. And zone defense, completely out of their character. It kind of worked. It slowed them down a little bit. Guarding Embiid with Smalls, not a completely foreign thing for Boston or even the team that the Sixers are about to play. We'll talk about OG and an OBI has guarded Embiid a little bit in prior matchups before the lineup. The.

[Zach Lowe]

It was just.

[Michael Pina]

It felt like a team that just lost itself and lost its mind a little bit. And yet we're still in the Game down one with four minutes left and just could not make a shot again until the game was over.

[Zach Lowe]

Let's, let's talk about that actually because

[Michael Pina]

you know their offensive rating going into this game was 114, which is about league average down from number, their number two ranking for the season. And this was a bad offensive game efficiency wise for them, I do feel like. And another bad three point shooting game. Right. And that's the common denominator. Every time they lose it's 13 of 49 tonight they had a 13 of 15 game earlier.

[Zach Lowe]

I think it is fair to have

[Michael Pina]

a conversation about Missoula ball and the playoffs after the meltdown against the Knicks last year when they just chucked away the first two games.

[Zach Lowe]

And it's not just the threes.

[Michael Pina]

It's. They seem to lapse back into the most predictable versions of themselves on offense which is difficult to guard because they have two big guys who, yeah, if they go hunting they can hunt and, and, and make mid range jumpers over smaller guys and all of that. But I've called them team extreme before and they were team extreme again this year. They were dead last in free throw rate, dead last in shots at the rim. Take a ton of threes, they took a ton of mid range jumpers because they're obsessive about not turning the ball over and they were very good at that. Philly actually won the turnover battle in this series. Both of the. They couldn't force any turnovers because Boston doesn't really do that either.

[Zach Lowe]

And I just, I, you know, I think it's going to be interesting to

[Michael Pina]

see how they come out of this and do they think like we need to have a little bit more variety. A little bit more variety is not even in the right way. You kind of understand what I'm saying. I assume it's like, like I think

[Zach Lowe]

this is going to be a little bit of a referendum on maybe this

[Michael Pina]

stuff doesn't quite work as well in the postseason. It's saying that they did win an NBA championship, but there's sandwiched around that are some just weird, like weird ugly ish performances in big moments. I guess I shouldn't just yada yada, the championship. They won the championship. They were the best team that year. They made the finals with Ima Madoka previously. The pedigree is there. They've been the most consistent winning team of the 2020s. Like there's no question about that. But this is a first round playoff loss to a team that was basically in shambles. Health Wise, the entire season.

[Unidentified Guest Analyst]

Yeah, I think that, you know, obviously they shot what they shot from behind the three point line. Not what you want. I thought a bunch of the threes that they took in this game, I mean they got good three.

[Zach Lowe]

They missed a lot of good shots.

[Michael Pina]

They also missed a lot of like highly contested late clock threes.

[Unidentified Guest Analyst]

Late clock and like quick threes that were also contested and off balance. I thought, you know, starting Garza starting like their starting lineup to me was out of desperation and I thought that they were going to. The game plan was basically we're going to go at Joel Embiid and take like 50 threes and see what happens. But I think like, you know, one

[Michael Pina]

of the ways, by the way, credit also to the Sixers. Just to interject before I forget, shooting all the threes and going at Embiid, I think one of the smartest things the Sixers did was not be concerned about Luca Garza shooting above the break three. So like we're not going to over rotate to this. We know what you're trying to do. We'll see if he makes some. And he did not. He did not make some.

[Unidentified Guest Analyst]

Yeah. I think that one of the keys for Boston starting the series hot and kind of cooling off was just second chance opportunities and pounding the offensive glass. That was a hallmark for them this season. Like the differentiated from how they played in the past and they just didn't grab any offensive. Offensive rebound rate of 17.9% according to cleaning the Glass. I'm looking at it right now tonight, which was terrible. And I thought that I saw before coming into this game or coming into going to game six, they grabbed 40% of their missed threes and I thought that that was just a huge variable because when they miss a three, they grab an offensive rebound, they usually kick it out to whoever it may be. Jalen Brown, Peyton Pritchard, Sam Houser. And that shot usually goes in and you could just see like Nick Nurse on the side on those situations. That was like the I'm pulling my hair out moments for him. And Boston just couldn't attack or couldn't crash the offensive glass successfully. And I think that that is kind of the layer that they added this season, if you will, strategically while still maintaining pretty good transition defense and obviously not turning the ball over, which is a part of that. But yeah, I think like to your point of should they. Is this something that they need to kind of deviate from a little bit? I. I think like it's really interesting that they increased their three point rate in the playoffs more than any other team, kind of dramatically. And like Jason Tatum not playing this game matters, I suppose for sure. Obviously he's their best player and fantastic player. But you would like to see just like they ran a wedge screen action where Hauser set a wedge screen for Jalen Brown and he caught it in the paint and it was like a really nice, I think it was an ato really nice design play.

[Michael Pina]

They didn't switch it because they didn't want to switch maxi on him. They chased Jaylen Brown over it and he got a layup out of it.

[Unidentified Guest Analyst]

Right. And just kind of working stuff like that in more in the half court would be terrific. Obviously they run a ton of stack, pick and roll and the Sixers like snuff that out. Like they took that out of the series. I thought their defense was tremendous. But yeah, to your, to your point, could probably stand to. To not take the bad threes and kind of work. So like get to the free throw line would be nice. But I do think, like, because of who they had available tonight, three pointers was probably going to be what decided their season.

[Michael Pina]

I mean, I guess they played 80% of the season with the guys they had tonight without Tatum. Before we move on to the future, another embiid thing. I mentioned the one turnover. And when Boston started putting wings on him, Hugo and Jalen Brown and Shireman even had him for a possession or two initially he looked like a little cautious and less comfortable than he did against Boston's traditional big guys. And I just started to wonder. We've seen him not want the ball with the same ferocity that he normally does late in some big playoff games, notably against the Knicks two years ago. And again, Vengeance Series 2 coming up for him.

[Zach Lowe]

And it turned out he was just kind of feeling it out.

[Michael Pina]

And then once he felt it out, he got very comfortable and just put Jaylen Brown in the basketball multiple times. Kicked out, I think for a max E3 when they said they started doubling and almost tripling at times because they had to and did not look out of control once, did not throw any wild passes. Just kept it very basic and very simple, and there was absolutely no stopping him. And in that sense, I thought it was one of the sort of most polished big game performances of his career. There was that stretch in the third quarter where he just completely took over the game. Look, Bill and I are going to talk surely tomorrow night about the. The future of the Celtics beyond just this kind of reckoning after this. And you know, they they they're will have access to the mid level exception this summer assuming they don't bring back Vucc, and I don't think that they will. They have a KEDA extension possibility. They have a Peyton Pritchard extension that they could offer. I don't know that he'd take it. I don't really know how dramatically there can change this team unless they start looking at very, very big ticket items. You know, they owe a pick to Portland and they have a pick swap out to San Antonio, but otherwise they have most of of their picks available to trade. I don't know what the answer is. I don't want to really have that conversation now, but it will be interesting to see how dramatically they pivot or whether the pivot is just sort of a little bit of a stylistic one. But it's going to be an interesting off season for a Boston team that was one of the best stories in the entire league. The Vegas favorites to make the finals out of the east once the playoffs started fell into this matchup with Philly. That looked like a pretty friendly one for them, especially when Embiid had the appendix thing and now they are out. Let's take a quick break and talk a little bit about the second round of the playoffs, which is actually beginning.

[Zach Lowe]

The first round will end.

[Michael Pina]

We'll talk about the second round after

[Zach Lowe]

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[Zach Lowe]

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[Zach Lowe]

right, really quickly, we got a couple more game sevens tomorrow and then the playoffs continue. This is not the end of the playoffs.

[Michael Pina]

Even though it seems like this has been an interminable awesome first round Knicks

[Zach Lowe]

Sixers Michael Pina early quick thoughts on a series that is the winner of this. Now the favorite to make the finals out of the east are the Knicks. It's all lining up for the Knicks, man. I mean like it's, it really is all lining up for them. They were my preseason pick. But this Philly team playing like this

[Michael Pina]

can beat anybody in the East. We knew that, we knew that they had this in them.

[Zach Lowe]

We just never thought it would actually

[Michael Pina]

emerge for a million different reasons.

[Zach Lowe]

What are your early kind of inklings on this one?

[Unidentified Guest Analyst]

Embiid's health is obviously top of mind. I'm really interested to see just how New York deals with him if he is healthy. You know, Karl Anthony Towns is coming off maybe the best playoff series of his career, I thought. And you know, they have Mitchell Robinson and I want to see how often Mike Brown goes double big there. Just how they deal. You know, you mentioned OG Anunoby obviously, and he's handled him. You know, if they do that, they're going to double, they're going to bring a lot of help. And one thing I just want to say real quick, when Boston was doubling, I thought Vijay Edgecombe hitting the threes was a humongous variable in that game. But sticking with the Knicks, how they deal with Embiid defensively is massive. Obviously talked about Paul George already. If Paul George is playoff P or whatever and looks as he did in the Celtic series and is just a at times dominant take over the game two way forward. Like I don't, I don't know, like just thinking off top of mind, like, is it a, is it a toss up series? Am I, am I, should I be favored? Should the Knicks be favored a little bit? I mean, obviously the Knicks had a really great matchup against the Atlanta Hawks in a small front court. So it's just a little bit different. But there's just a lot to think about with this series and kind of who guards who and I'm really looking forward to seeing how it all unfolds.

[Michael Pina]

Right. The Knicks should be favored. They're deeper, they're healthier. Mikhail Bridges rediscovered in that unbelievable game six where I felt like I was hallucinating the whole game against the Hawks when The score was 60 to 19. I actually texted my wife who doesn't care about the NBA and I was like, I, I don't really know who. Like, I just felt like you needed to know the score. This, this game is 60 to 19 and I don't think I've ever seen that before. And she, she emoji did with a like exclamation point. So she even was surprised. But Mikhail Bridges rediscovered the basket thing is something you're allowed to move towards with the ball and then put the ball into it from close range. But they should be favored and if

[Zach Lowe]

only because some a lot of the

[Michael Pina]

skepticism about the Sixers playoff viability was one series. Sure they can beat anybody. Can they stay healthy? Can Embiid stay healthy for multiple rounds? Particularly now it's every other day basically for the rest of the playoffs. This is a low travel series. Obviously that's helpful and so we'll see. I mentioned the vengeance factor. We've got the Mitchell Robinson Joel Embiid history where Joel kind of grabbed his foot and there started a whole kerfuffle and there was an ankle injury as a result. Or maybe as a result. I guess as a result

[Zach Lowe]

we got

[Michael Pina]

interested to see who Embiid guards. I assume he will guard Josh Hart to start the series when the Knicks have their starting five.

[Zach Lowe]

Maxi.

[Michael Pina]

I mentioned Mikhail Bridges because Maxi's a tough cover for this. For this particular.

[Zach Lowe]

He's a tough cover for everybody.

[Michael Pina]

But the super fast water bug guard is a tough cover for the Knicks. Like it's not really what Anunoby specializes in, although he's had some shots at Maxi in the past. It's certainly not going to be Jalen Brunson who will be hiding on Kelly Oubre when the starters are against the starters and Kelly Oubre's minutes are. He played great but the Sixers have leaned and they, they had him on the floor at the end of this game for his defense. But they've played that lineup with Grimes, Edgecombe, Maxi, George and Embiid almost as much in the playoffs as they did in the entire regular season. And it was gangbusters in lim it was plus I think 17 going into tonight in 15 minutes or maybe it's the other way around, but anyway and it's going to be Bridges to start the game on Maxi and they need him to be like Phoenix Bridges defensively and then you'll see pieces of like Deuce McBride will get some of the job and Jose Alvarado is tailor made to do some of that job. Shamet has actually done it a little bit, but he's out of the rotation so that's something I'm watching.

[Zach Lowe]

And then you mentioned the double big. I think this is a good double

[Michael Pina]

big series for the Knicks. I think you could put Cat on basically on the power forward in any lineup other than the one I mentioned with the three guards. And Paul George, you can put him on Uber. If Barlo gets in, you can certainly put him on Barlow and put Mitchell Robinson on Embiid.

[Zach Lowe]

So there's a lot of meat in

[Michael Pina]

this series and obviously the Sixers will go at Brunson, right? They'll try to get Brunson onto Maxi and just get out of the way and let him ISO maybe even so there's some interesting levers both of these teams can pull. But that, that series two years ago was a classic and it featured that wild comeback in game two with the controversial non call on a Sixers out of bounds play. It. It featured Maxi in game five, like single handedly keeping the Sixers alive in that series and forcing a game six. And then Josh Hart hits a million clutch shots in game six and people were like what the hell's going on? And there was one other thing in that series that I wanted to mention. Oh, it featured a couple of games in crunch time where it didn't look like Joel Embiid was super pumped about having the ball and the responsibility of the last shot and played a little bit of hot potato for a couple stretches. So I think it's going to be an awesome series between obviously two of the classic NBA franchises. Have we left anything out that you, that you're interested in?

[Unidentified Guest Analyst]

No, I, I'm, I'm, I mentioned Cat a little bit. I am interested to see just when he is at the five, who, who will guard him? Will it be Kelly U. Paul George? How are they going to like how, how are they going to do that?

[Michael Pina]

Maybe Embiid. I mean I don't. Again, I think, I think they will start by cross matching Embiid on Hart. But to your point, like yeah, there's not really a, there's not a prototypical sort of like bigger, bulkier, 4 or 3.5 kind of player to guard Cat.

[Unidentified Guest Analyst]

Right. And I want to see how Cat kind of takes advantage of that because I really liked how the Knicks used Cat in that series. He had a lot of high assist games just playing through him, elbow extended and he mean he picked the Atlanta Hawks apart. I thought that I think like guarding the New York Knicks when they have that flavor in their offense makes them really difficult as opposed to just more of a, you know, predictable Jalen Brown, Jalen Brunson, dribble, dribble, dribble, or just a bunch of high pick and roll. So I'm interested to see that. And if they can kind of keep hitting that, keep pressing that button, that'll be interesting to see. But yeah, otherwise just awesome matchup. You said it already with Maxey. How do you stop Tyrese Maxey is like a big question in these playoffs. I can't wait to see how the Knicks kind of figure that one out. But this will be a really fun series.

[Michael Pina]

And anunoby, my scene partner, obviously from your friends and neighbors, as everyone knows him from that first and foremost is playing out of his freaking mind right now. And you know, if he plays it even like 90% of the way he played against Atlanta, he's that's an all star level player. So it should be a really fun series. A lot of Amtrak miles to pile up.

[Zach Lowe]

Celtics out.

[Michael Pina]

The Bill pod is going to be fun tomorrow. Celtics out. Sixers move on. Lots to reckon with for the Celtics. We'll get more into that as the week goes on.

[Zach Lowe]

Michael Pina, thanks for staying up late, my friend.

[Unidentified Guest Analyst]

Thank you, Zach.

[Zach Lowe]

All right, that's it for the Zach Lowe Show. Good night. Sleep well. Two more game sevens tomorrow. Thanks to Michael Pina for staying up. Thanks to Mike, Billy and Jonathan on production. Also for staying up on a Saturday night. And thanks to you all for listening

[Michael Pina]

to and or watching the Zach Lowe Show. I'll be back on Tuesday as normal with a new Zach Lowe show episode. And I'll be on Bill's podcast tomorrow. I don't know what kind of mood Bill's going to be in. Should be fun. See you then. 21 or over and President select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 and over in President, D.C. kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER or 1-800-MY RESET. Call 1-888-78-9777 or visit ccpg.org chatincenectic or is it mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland? Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24. 7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY in New York. For Louisiana, call 1-877-770-7867.

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