It's Morris' film study that helps school Simmons and Sixers

BOSTON  – You often hear players and coaches talk about the work that goes into playing that doesn’t appear on the practice court and doesn’t necessarily manifest itself in games.

Marcus Morris has been one of the Celtics' better scorers this season. And prior to his arrival in Boston, his reputation was that of a versatile defender.

• MORE CELTICS - Jaylen Brown's comeback in Game 2 is almost as big as the Celtics' 

But what folks don’t know about Morris is that as the stakes have gotten higher in the postseason, he has spent a considerable amount of additional time watching video of various matchups.

One matchup that he has locked in on is the one between him and Philadelphia’s Ben Simmons.

Coming into this second-round series, Morris knew that he and Al Horford would likely split time defending the 6-foot-10 point-forward.

So, much of Morris’ film study has been on tendencies he has recognized in Simmons’ game.

And based on how ineffective Simmons has been in this series thus far, that film work has paid off in a big way.

• MORE CELTICS - C's shut down Ben Simmons in Game 2

“No disrespect to Joel Embiid, because he’s a hell of a player,” Morris told NBC Sports Boston. “But Simmons really gets them going. If you can limit him, make him do some things he doesn’t want to do, make him feel you out there … that’s what we want.”

Simmons, who scored a career-low one point in Boston’s Game 2 win Thursday night, said his struggles had more to do with himself than anything the Celtics did defensively.

Regardless, the Celtics have made limiting his impact a priority and when you break down all that has transpired in the first two games, Boston’s success along those lines has been a major factor in its 2-0 series lead heading for Philly and Game 3 Saturday.

And when you break down that success, it comes back in part to Morris’ breaking down of film.

But Morris’ film focus isn’t solely on what he has to do defensively. He’s also looking for spots on the floor when he can be most effective at the offensive end, too.

Morris will be the first to admit he didn’t shoot the ball nearly as well as he would have liked in the first-round series against Milwaukee.

• VIDEO - Stevens: "I think you chalk this up as a TD Garden win"

And in the first two games against the Sixers, Morris is averaging 11 points on 8-for-20 (40 percent) shooting, which is slightly better than his first-round shooting numbers (33-for-85, 38.8 percent).

Here are five other takeaways from the 108-103 Game 2 win over Philadelphia:  

BACKUP POWER

GREG MONROE

SPEAKING OF THE SECOND QUARTER...

AL HORFORD, MR. HUSTLE

ROZIER HOME COOKIN’