Joel Embiid, Brett Brown Address 76ers' Turnover Issues

After defeating the Boston Celtics three out of four times in the regular season this year, the Philadelphia 76ers met with their rivals for Game 1 of the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs on Monday.

Unfortunately for Philly, their regular-season success didn't translate as well in the postseason. Without Ben Simmons, the Sixers knew they were going to take a hit defensively. And offensively, they struggled to make up for it.

Right out of the gate, the Sixers struggled to take care of the ball on offense. And by the time the team went into the locker room at the half, the 76ers had coughed the ball up 13 times. In comparison to Boston's four turnovers at half, it was clear which team was gaining a significant benefit for the other's mistakes.

In the end, the 76ers turned the ball over 18 times, which the Celtics turned into 21 total points. While the Sixers' constant self-inflicting wounds was a major factor as to why they lost -- at least Philly knows what they have to correct heading into Game 2.

"We know what we have to fix," said Sixers center, Joel Embiid. "[There were] too many turnovers. Starting with me, I got to take care of the ball. They had too many offensive rebounds. Looking at the game, we only lost by six points. We had a lot of turnovers, and they had a lot of second opportunities, so we've got to fix that."

So what do the Sixers intend to do in order to fix their mistakes? "I think that there's no doubt we want to give [Joel Embiid] the ball in different floor spots," Sixers head coach Brett Brown explained on Monday following the loss. "It doesn't always have to be bully-ball at the nail where it's just a fistfight, and everything gets stuck in the mud."

"It can be at a nail, it can be pick and roll, it can be putting Alec Burks and Joel Embiid in a two-man game and getting him out of a roll," Brown continued. "Overplaying the volume of smash mouth, bully-ball, post-up -- to do it all the time comes with some level of punishment if you're not careful. I look forward to going back and seeing our post passing, passing out of the post, and I think we can improve a lot in that area."

Falling behind one game isn't the end of the world for the Sixers. After all, that's how they started last year's playoffs in the first round against the Brooklyn Nets. Whether they can resolve the turnover issues or not in Game 2 will be found out soon enough, but at least Brown, Embiid, and the Sixers understand what the problems are.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him Twitter: @JGrasso_