CAMDEN, N.J. — When one looks at the numbers in this Round 1 series between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Boston Celtics, one thing that might stand out is the poor offensive numbers from Kelly Oubre Jr.
A player known for his ability to put the ball in the basket, Oubre is averaging only 9.0 points in this series while shooting 38.3% form the floor and 15.8% from deep. This comes after he shot a career-high 36% from deep in the regular season on 4.8 attempts.
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With that being said, Oubre has had some extremely tough defensive assignments in Celtics stars Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. The two of them can cause headaches and Oubre has done a solid job of staying in front of them and making life tough for them while also helping on the glass.
“Listen, he’s had a very, very difficult defensive assignment for lots of minutes every game, right?” said coach Nick Nurse. “And I think that’s kinda where it starts for me. Like, those two guys are great, right? They’re big and they’re skilled and they’re in lots of actions, lots of attempts, and I think he’s done a good job of just digging in, and taking the challenge. It’s a lot of minutes and a lot of reps because they got the ball a lot. From that standpoint, he’s had a great series.”
To Nurse’s point, Oubre’s length, versatility, and defensive acumen have made him a very valuable piece to this team on the floor despite the offensive struggles. He has continued to fight hard on that end and give Philadelphia some valuable minutes defensively. That right there is enough for Nurse while the Sixers wait for his offense to come around.
“I think everything else he can do—if he has a game where he’s hitting a few, obviously, that’s gonna help us,” Nurse added. “I think he only had one front of the rimmer, he had another one that he should’ve made (referring to Game 5). He got there and came up short, but I still think he sprinkles in a couple of those. A couple of 3s and he’s had great games, but some nights it’s your night to do that, and some nights it’s not.”
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Oubre is a player focused on winning. He can have a tough night offensively, but as long as he is doing what is asked of him–which, in this case, is to play some stout defense–then he and Philadelphia will be happy with what they get out of him.
“What we do need from him is what he’s given us, which is to kind of roll up his sleeves, go to work, be solid, play every possession,” Nurse added. “Even if those guys are rolling, which they seem to do at some point in the game, you just gotta kind of short memory of it and get back to work.”
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Nick Nurse talks play of Kelly Oubre Jr. in Sixers vs. Celtics series
