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The Boston Celtics decided to shake things up a little bit before Game 6 of their second round series of the NBA Playoffs against the Philadelphia 76ers. On the road and facing elimination, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla opted to go with a two-big lineup of Al Horford and Robert Williams III and move Derrick White Jr. to the bench. The Celtics ended up getting the win, 95-86, so the lineup did have some effect. After the game, Horford reacted to the lineup change as per Souichi Terada of MassLiveNews.
Al Horford on the lineup change: “I was happy that happened. We just know the impact Rob makes.”
— Souichi Terada | 寺田惣一 (@SouichiTerada) May 12, 2023
In Game 6, Al Horford only finished with two points on 1-5 shooting from the field and 0-2 from three-point range, but he did have 11 rebounds. Robert Williams finished with ten points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots. He shot 4-7 from the field and knocked down his only two free-throws. The double-big lineup of Horford and Williams was the lineup the Celtics used to reach the NBA Finals last season.
Throughout the NBA playoffs, Horford has been averaging 7.1 points per game, 7.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.3 steals and 2.2 blocked shots with shooting splits of 39.2 percent shooting from the field, 31 percent shooting from the three-point line and 100 percent shooting from the free-throw line. Williams has been averaging 6.5 points per game, 6.3 rebounds and 1.4 blocked shots with shooting splits of 88.6 percent shooting from the field and 69.2 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
The Sixers have one of the most dominant post players in the NBA in Joel Embiid who won the league MVP Award. It looks like the Celtics have decided to counter that with two bigs capable of playing defense in the paint.
