The Boston Celtics pick-and-roll defense has been limiting the Sixers

The Boston Celtics' defense has been operating on an elite level throughout their first four games of the postseason. Joe Mazzulla's team has held the Philadelphia 76ers to under 100 points in two of the first four games, jumping out to a 3-1 series lead as a result. One way the Celtics have looked to stifle the Sixers is by running a "no middle" strategy.

The idea is to stop Philadelphia from getting into the middle of the court. That means we've seen Boston lean heavily into sending nail help on drives, pinching when guarding penetration on the wings and "weaking" pick-and-roll coverages by keeping the ball-handler operating along the sidelines. On Sunday, April 26, the Celtics did a terrific job of forcing the Sixers to play on the sides, using the sideline and baseline as additional defenders to take away easy buckets when coming off a screen.

Those defensive possessions often ended in a stop or heavily contested shot, limiting the Sixers' ability to generate quality offense via one of the most used strategies in the NBA: the pick-and-roll. View this post on Instagram In the video above, one of Boston's "weak" possessions has been broken down to showcase the value of keeping Philadelphia away from the middle of the floor. After all, Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe and Paul George are all at their best when having a straight line to the rim, either from the top of the perimeter or the wing/slot areas of the floor.

So far, the Celtics have had great success in containing the Sixers pick-and-roll offense with this strategy. If Boston can continue doing so, they will be in good shape heading into game five, in what is now a potential series close-out game for Mazzulla's team. Watch or listen to the "Celtics Chronicle" podcast on: YouTube: https://bit.