After the Celtics gave away a 3-1 lead and were eliminated by the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 7, Jaylen Brown highlighted Joel Embiid’s flopping as a factor in the loss. But Shannon Sharpe did not buy that reason.

On his show Nightcap, the Hall of Fame tight end felt that, rather than Embiid’s flopping, it was the Celtics’ poor shooting inefficiency that led to their defeat.

“Here's the problem that I got," Sharpe said. "It wasn't the flopping. It was y'all dumb play. JB, y'all down one point, and you come down and launch five, six straight threes. So what about that?"

In game 7, Jaylen Brown scored 33 points, but the Celtics shot 13 for 49 from three with an efficiency rate of 26.5%.

As per Sharpe, it was not just the inefficiency of the shots but also the decisions to go for threes when they could have easily chosen to attack the rim for easy two-point buckets.

"You're down one. You're not down 11. You don't want to run not one play. You shoot a three, you get the rebound. You jack up another three. You get the rebound. You shoot another three. I'm like, 'Well, are you serious?’” Shannon added.

Shannon’s remarks were justified as not just in Game 7, but the Celtics’ shooting decisions in the last two games were questionable, too.

In Game 6, they shot 12 for 41 and 11 for 39 in Game 5, leading to an exit from the playoffs.

They missed eight straight shots after cutting the Sixers' lead to 99-98 with under four minutes to play.

How the Celtics Abandoned Their Own Gameplan and Paid the Price

During the regular season, 38.6% of their points came in the paint. But when they did attack closer to the basket, they converted at 55.5% on two-point attempts.

This strategy helped them win 56 games in the regular season. They also had a higher percentage (36.7%) on three-point attempts during the regular season.

However, during the playoffs, the Celtics’ overall points inside the paint and three-pointer success rate dropped to 34.9% and 33.7%, respectively.

This proved how they chose to keep attempting three-pointers with the game on the line rather than attacking the paint, drawing fouls, and letting the offence reset.

This is only the second time in the last ten years that the Celtics failed to reach the conference semi-finals, and surely they now need to look deeply into their strategies before the next season.

Where did it all go wrong for the Celtics this postseason? Comment down below!

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Written by

Koushik Biswas

Edited by

Utsav Gupta