Confidence played major role in 76ers Game 2 win; can Boston Celtics kill it in Game 3?

VJ Edgecombe might have been a little cowed by the moment in the blowout loss that was Game 1 of the Philadelphia 76ers first round series vs. the Boston Celtics, but he found his way in Game 2 thanks to some coaching from his teammates and Philly head coach Nick Nurse. "It’s just the same kind of reminders," said Nurse after beating Boston 123-91 on Tuesday (April 21) night.

"I grab him and Tyrese (Maxey) together a lot, and continue to remind them to be super aggressive, fire it up there, keep shooting no matter what," he added. And Boston felt the impact of that adjustment in a big way in the second installment of the series, seeing the Sixers shift the dynamics from beyond the arc in the two contests. In game 1, Boston shot 44 3s to Philly's 23, hitting 36 percent of their triples to the 76ers' 17 percent.

In Game 2, the Sixers hit 39 treys to Boston's 50, and while they were unable to overtake the Celtics from deep, they held them to just 26 percent from 3 to their own 49 percent. "I think he got to some good spots the other night, right, kind of spots that he normally kind of gets to, and I think it was just a matter of him realizing 'Okay, there are going to be some spots for me to get to, and some shots are going to be there', and you’ve got to take them," said Nurse. "And obviously a big difference, they get to the spot and vaulted up there and start making some and boost everybody’s confidence.

" "I’m going to be honest, I think we all knew, correct me if I’m wrong, I think we knew where the shots were going to come from," said Edgecombe. "I think we knew where we were going to get the shots from, where the help was going to be at. So, credit to my teammates for ...