It is a "mystery" as Hyde termed it. "What the hell is wrong with him?" Only took six shots all night; six points. I may be completely wrong on this but I wondered it then and wonder it now: When Bam came back from his injury (He missed 22 games with surgery for a torn UCL in his right (shooting) thumb, very similar to Joel Embiid's injury), he did not seem the same player to me. Like Joel, he seemed to be playing in some pain. Nobody said this and his end-of-season numbers were actually up slightly from his pre-injury numbers, so maybe it's just the defense.
But look at his playoff numbers. For his career he is 14.5 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 3.3 apg. Against Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals in the bubble two years ago (different team, different coach, admittedly) Bam put up 21.8 ppg, 11 rpg and 5.2 apg, and had the defining play of that series, a block at the rim on Jayson Tatum.
Against Atlanta this year he went 12.4, 8.0, 3.6; Philly: 16.5, 7.5, 2.0, scoring up 2/game over career; Boston: invisible, 8.0, 6.5, 1.5--6.5 ppg lower than his career, 2.1 rpg lower, 1.8 apg lower. Again, Boston is the best defensive team in the Association. But Atlanta?
At best you can say Bam has been erratic in these playoffs and consistency is his signature. I don't know what it is, nobody seems to know.