After stretch-run collapse, Sixers know offensive execution must be on point in Game 7

Doc Rivers began Saturday’s film session with a 45-second soundless montage. It was a collection of missed shots during Thursday’s Game 6 of the 76ers’ second-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics, including the nine in a row during an excruciating final six minutes of a 95-86 loss.

“I didn’t say a word,” Rivers said. “I just showed it, and then I turned it off and I turned around. … ‘We’re good,’ that was the first thing that someone said.”

The Sixers’ coach concluded that, overall, Thursday’s outing featured “probably our highest shot quality of the year, and we just didn’t make anything.” Still, Rivers was naturally displeased with how his team’s offense evaporated in crunch time. Execution, missteps, and a lack of touches for NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid resulted in the Sixers scoring just one point during the five-minute window that pushed Boston ahead for good.

That’s a significant reason why the Sixers must now win Sunday afternoon’s Game 7 at TD Garden to advance to their first Eastern Conference final since 2001. But the opportunity for a swift turnaround in that area still exists in this series’ defining matchup.

“It’s a really sensitive balance, because we did play right overall [in Game 6],” Rivers said following practice Saturday. “The numbers say that. Everything says that. … We’ve been great down the stretch in execution all year. We just were not the other night.”

Rivers’ assessment is correct. The Sixers led the NBA during the regular season with a plus-16.6 net rating during “clutch” time, or when a game was within five points or less with five minutes or less remaining in regulation. That figure has been plus-13 in five playoff games with that scenario, though, their record is 3-2 in such games.

After Embiid hit a game-tying pull-up with 6 minutes, 13 minutes to play Thursday, the Sixers did not make another shot until a meaningless jumper by Jaden Springer with 22.7 seconds to go — after Rivers had emptied his bench when the deficit reached double digits.

Five players missed at least one shot during that decisive stretch. Tyrese Maxey, a 43.4% three-point shooter during the regular season, could not connect on two beyond-the-arc tries. James Harden misfired on one of his textbook step-back three-pointers, failed to finish two layups, and committed a turnover late when he lost his footing but thought he had been tripped. De’Anthony Melton missed a desperate turnaround baseline jumper off an out-of-bounds pass with 1.7 seconds left on the shot clock, after a mishandled pass from P.J. Tucker to Harden and a foul on Al Horford was overturned by video replay. Tucker could not convert a corner three-pointer, prompting some offense-for-defense subs with Georges Niang.

» READ MORE: James Harden cost the Sixers Game 6 and blamed the refs. He faces a do-or-die Game 7.

“That was the tale of the game right there,” standout forward Tobias Harris said.

Perhaps the most puzzling piece: Only two of those shots came from Embiid, the NBA’s leading scorer. After he stepped into a free-throw jumper that rattled out with 3:56 to play, he never touched the ball again in the remaining meaningful minutes, even as part of the offense’s natural flow. Following the game, Embiid lamented that the ball did not find him. And after reviewing film, Rivers said there were two possessions in particular when Embiid “for sure he should have gotten the ball, when he didn’t get it.”

“It’s not fine, but it happens,” Rivers said. “… You’re walking a fine line, because if a guy is open, should he not shoot it?”

Also contributing to the clunky offensive finish were game-plan and positional miscues on the defensive end, where the Sixers previously boasted an exceptional, league-leading rating of 93.5 points allowed per 100 possessions in clutch time. Thursday’s deficiencies allowed All-NBA guard Jayson Tatum to bury four late three-pointers following a horrendous shooting start, and limited opportunities for the Sixers to get out in transition. Maxey drew a foul near the basket when the Sixers were able to ignite a fastbreak, but missed one of his two free-throw attempts.

The Sixers’ priorities have remained the same in drilling offensive halfcourt sets: using spacing and ball movement to generate lanes to drive to the basket with force, and kick out to open shooters. They are expecting the Celtics to stick with their Game 6 adjustment of starting big men Horford and Robert Williams III together, which crowded the middle of the floor at times and gave Boston a shot-blocking threat as a help defender.

» READ MORE: Jayson Tatum simply needed a little ‘love’ to snap out of his slump, stun the Sixers and force Game 7

The Sixers are also banking on more shots to fall. Yet they know their execution down the stretch must be sharper in order to finish off this series.

“Those are a lot of looks that we normally would take any given night,” Harris said. “And we usually do make them. … The biggest thing for us is keep trusting, keep relying on those types of looks.”