The Philadelphia 76ers entered their second-round series with some noticeable flaws. No team is perfect but the fact that the Sixers have drawn the Boston Celtics in this semifinal doesn’t help Philly in the slightest. Boston’s roster is full of guys that can all make a play with the basketball, exploiting some of the Sixers’ defensive deficiencies. On defense, the Celtics have enough size and quickness to be a stout, versatile defensive team. Boston exploited the Sixers in Game 2 on Wednesday night, in particular, Georges Niang was exposed. That is why head coach Doc Rivers should give Niang’s minutes for a combination of Daneul House Jr. and Shake Milton.
The 6’7 slow-moving forward has played in both games of the Celtics series thus far. He is averaging 13.4 minutes per game, 3 points per game on 28,6 percent shooting from the field and 40 percent from three. It’s not uncommon for Niang to struggle against Boston’s long, strong, quick, athletic, and communicative defense. He shot 16.7 percent from three-point land on three attempts in his four appearances against Boston in the regular season.
There’s the now infamous play floating around on Sixers Twitter of Niang from Game 2. That is the tipping point for this conversation but in general, the Boston Celtics roster and how it is structured will hunt Georges Niang. The playoffs are a war of attrition and are about matchups. In those 13 minutes that Niang was in both games, the Celtics are surely attempting to attack him on defense and lure him into attempting a drive-and-kick instead of hoisting up a trey like the sharpshooter he is.
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