Boston Celtics: 3 takeaways from Game 4 vs. 76ers

1. Foul trouble keeps Boston’s best on the bench

Multiple members of the Celtics had trouble staying on the court in Game 4, as Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Marcus Morris all picked up five fouls, while Semi Ojeleye accumulated four in just 12 minutes of play.

There are some who would like to think that the refs had it out for Boston, as they didn’t want to see the 76ers get swept on their home court, but that theory doesn’t really stick when both teams shot the same amount of free throws at 26.

Throughout the regular season and playoffs, coaches like to establish a rotation, mixing and matching lineups to maximize each player’s abilities.

When a team gets into foul trouble, that rotation goes to the trash, as the coach is forced to play certain guys within lineups they’re not accustomed to or going with guys that have barely played in days.

Tatum picked up his third foul with 7:01 left in the first half. Morris did the same at the 3:50 mark of the same quarter. Brown got whistled for his fifth with less than four minutes to go before the final period.

Instead of worrying about the X’s and O’s, Stevens was forced to juggle unfamiliar substitution patterns, which may not have optimized each player’s strengths the way they normally are.

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Simply put it, Boston has to be more disciplined on the defensive end in order to stay in the games. Brad Stevens may be a basketball genius, but he can’t fix a broken rotation on the fly because his players can’t stay on the court when they’re supposed to.