CAMDEN, N.J.–When the Philadelphia 76ers look back at their Game 6 loss to the Boston Celtics, they are going to kick themselves for not only the lack of offensive execution, but also the amount of wide-open looks they weren’t able to knock down.
On wide-open threes, which are defined by NBA.com as the closest defender being six or more feet away, the Sixers were only 6-for-25.
That isn’t going to cut it in Game 7, but obviously, the fact that they were able to get those open looks is a great sign for them going forward. So while there was a lack of execution in some moments, they were able to get a lot of open looks.
“I think we watched the shots that we missed,” said Georges Niang. “At the end of the day, it’s really hard to win games when you shoot under 40%. Even if it was during the regular season, you’d be thrilled if you can get out of a game only shooting 37% or 38% whatever we shot.”
On the night, the Sixers shot just 36.1% as a group and they were 8-for-34 from deep. It was just one of those nights and it came at an inopportune moment for Philadelphia. If they get those same looks again, they feel confident they’ll knock them down.
“We had good looks,” added Tobias Harris. “Some of them didn’t fall and like I said after the game, those are a lot of looks we normally will take on any given night and we usually do make them. It’s a two-fold thing, but the biggest thing for us is keep trusting and keep relying on those type of looks, keep having the ball move around to find open guys and guys just being ready to make shots. It’s all of us.”
The film session for the Sixers on Saturday was a productive one as coach Doc Rivers pointed out the missed opportunities as his team prepares for Game 7.
“The first film (clip) today was, I don’t know how long it took, 45 seconds of missed shots with no sound, nobody talking,” said Rivers. “I just showed it. I didn’t say a word, I just showed it, and then I turned it off. I turned around and everybody was like, ‘Holy goodness.’ You could just see them and so I finally turned around and I said, ‘What do you guys see?’ And they were like, ‘We’re good.’ That was the first thing that someone said: ‘We’re good’.”
Obviously, the Sixers feel good about their chances heading into Game 7 and they should. They have been a tough team all season and they were able to generate good looks in Game 6. They just weren’t able to knock them down.
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Story originally appeared on Sixers Wire