PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia 76ers are in a tough position following a Game 3 loss to the Boston Celtics on Friday. It was an opportunity for them to take control of the series, but they couldn't secure some big rebounds down the stretch and it led to some clutch Celtics buckets.As the Sixers head into a critical Game 4 on Sunday night, they will need to focus on the little details. Things such as boxing out, grabbing that key rebound, being in the right spot, and making sure they walk away with a big win to even this series up before it shifts back to Boston on Tuesday for Game 5.Paul George has been in these situations plenty of times in his 16-year career.
He wants the Sixers to just play freely, but also not to overthink it."You can't play trying not to make mistakes," said George. "You got to play kind of free, and just allow the natural and the work and your talents just take over. So, it's just trusting yourself.
Go out there, play as hard as you can. There’s going to be mistakes there. It’s part of the game, but you just got to learn from having it happen."The Sixers played excellent defense against Boston in Game 3.
They were forcing tough shots which led to misses, but again, they just weren't able to secure that key rebound. It then led to the Celtics knocking down big 3s to put the game away and retake control of the series and regain home court advantage."I mean, it's tough," George added. "It's not that we're allowing him to get these offensive rebounds.
Like, me and Tyrese (Maxey) were talking about it. Some of them are just, you know, bad bounces. We're checking the rebound, or we're checking the box out, and we're going in to try to help rebound, and the ball flies over our head, and right back to them."Maybe so, but George has been around long enough that in order for those bad bounces to not happen, they have to execute and be in a better position to grab those rebounds.
"So, it is tough," George finished. "Some of those situations have been tough, but knowing that? We got to be better there.
We feel like we're playing great half for the defense. We just got to limit them to one shot."Game 4 is set for 7 p.m. EDT on Sunday from Philadelphia.This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Paul George has advice for Sixers on how to focus on little details