POST GAME PHILLY GAME #6

Well it was real interesting seeing Philly keeping the fans and TV audience in their seats for 3 1/2 quarters. Reminded me of a prize fight where one fighter is carrying another punch drunk fighter a few rounds to keep the audience entertained. I mean how many foul shots does Philly have to miss, how low a shooting percentage does Philly have to shot before some yells it's a fix. Fix, Ya Fix........the great Boston Celtics shooting ..........33% from the field........21.4% from 3 point land, 16 Turn Overs and they remained in the game for 3 1/2 quarters................A joke!!!!!!!!!!!

Rondo laid another egg .........like Wall Street did in 1929..............Holiday and Willams ate his lunch. Rondo did not generate any offense for the Celtics.......no offense rhythm......nothing! He was constantly left in the dust while guarding the ball.
Doc did nothing to broaden the bench. He brought in Marquis Daniels in for a cameo appearance. I mean Doc if they are shooting bad could bringing in Moore be worse. Maybe the kid hits a few and sparks the rest of the team.........@?*&@*!

Game #7 as far as I am concerned is a toss up.........pick'em! The Celtics gave Philly a chance to believe in themselves and so they have nothing to loose........they will be playing loose which is the worst type of team to play!!!!!!!

IT'S ALL HANDS ON DECK....MATES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NEXT GAME SATURDAY - HOME TIME - TBA - ESPN/CSNE


POST GAME RECAP

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FAST BREAK: LISTLESS C’S CAN’T FIND TOUCH, 76ERS FORCE GAME 7
By Ryan Hadfield

The Sixers and Celtics will need a seventh game to determine which will earn the right to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals after the C’s fell to Philly in Game 6, 82-75. The Celtics seemed out of sorts the whole game and shot just 33.3 percent from the field. Jrue Holiday continued to be a thorn in Boston’s side, scoring 18 points (7-of-15 shooting) for the Sixers. Paul Pierce scored 24 points in defeat.

WHAT WENT WRONG

Missed Opportunity: The C’s actually won the rebounding battle, 48-37, and even doubled up Philly on the offensive glass, 14-7. However, every other facet of the game seemed to go the 76ers way as the game progressed. Boston will look back at this game with regret, not because it lost, but because the way it lost. The C’s shooting percentage floated around 30 percent for the majority of the night and their 16 turnovers were debilitating. In a weird way, the Game 6 loss was almost as damning as the Celtics’ Game 4 loss when they blew an 18-point second half lead. At least in Game 4 the C’s played one good half; Game 5′s performance was brutal for a full 48 minutes.

Gamma Rays: Ray Allen only took one shot in Game 3. He was just 2-of-6 in Game 4. And Monday night he finished 2-of-7 in Game 5. Obviously, his ankle’s stability and amount of pain he is experiencing fluctuates on a day-to-day basis. It appeared Wednesday night he was laboring. His two early fouls in the first quarter didn’t help, but there was one play where Allen visibly struggled while trying to get separation from Jodie Meeks. Allen was 2-0f-8 going into the fourth quarter, playing just 17 minutes. With Avery Bradley‘s status questionable for the rest of the playoffs, Doc Rivers is undoubtedly hoping Allen’s health and play improves.

Held at bay: After Game 5, Allen said this was a “Kevin Garnett and Brandon Bass series” because Philly’s defense was predicated on stopping Pierce and himself on the perimeter. Bass had six first quarter points which sounds nice, until you realize it was on eight shot attempts. His shot selection was fine, but the same shots that fell for Bass in his 27-point Game 5 performance weren’t dropping at the Wells Fargo Center in Game 6. Kevin Garnett wasn’t much better. Sure, he finished with 20 points, but he took 20 shots to reach that output.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

Follow the leader: Pierce may have had four turnovers and an average night from the field, but The Truth did what he’s been doing the entire playoff run: Attacking the basket and helping rebound. Pierce grabbed 10 boards and went to got the line early and often, finishing the game with 13 free throw attempts. An underrated part of this is that Pierce converted all his attempts. This is especially noteworthy when looking at Philly, who as a team took 28 free throws … but hit just 17 of those opportunities.

Hangin’ around: This is tough. On one hand, the Sixers were shooting 60% in the opening stages of the second quarter, yet the Celtics only trailed by three, 28-25, even though they were shooting just 31 percent. The C’s tightened up defensively and the 76ers went on a scoring drought from the 8:19 mark to the 3:02 mark of the quarter. In fact, Philly would only score six points in eight minutes of action through the second quarter, leading to a comeback from the Celtics.

After holding the 76ers to an eleven point quarter, Boston took a three-point lead into halftime, despite shooting only 37 percent. Now, this falls under “What Went Right” because the C’s ended up with the lead while on the road, but their 17-point second quarter didn’t exactly allot them any breathing room.
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Rapid Reaction: 76ers 82, C's 75 (Game 6)

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com

PHILADELPHIA -- Rapid reaction after the Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Boston Celtics 82-75 in Game 6 of an Eastern Conference semifinal series Wednesday night at Wells Fargo Center. The series is tied at 3:

HOW THE GAME WAS WON
Jrue Holiday scored a team-high 20 points to pace five 76ers in double figures, while Elton Brand added 13 points and 10 rebounds. Paul Pierce scored a game-high 24 points on 5 of 11 shooting with 10 rebounds, while Kevin Garnett kicked in 20 points on 9 of 20 shooting. Alas, the Celtics shot a mere 33.3 percent (26 of 78) from the field overall and endured too many lulls to give themselves a true chance to steal the game and finish off this series.

TURNING POINT
Despite shooting a mere 31.7 percent (19 of 60) through three quarters, the Celtics were still within four at the start of the fourth quarter. It felt like if Boston could turn it on for 12 minutes, it might actually have a chance to steal this thing. It never really happened. Holiday sparked a little 7-0 burst with a turnaround jumper and a driving layup. A Lou Williams runner with 7:15 to go had the 76ers out front 70-59. Considering Boston's offensive woes, that 11-point hole seemed like a 33-point deficit on this night.

BOLD PLAY OF THE GAME
Andrew Iguodala split three members of Boston's Big Four, sliding between freshly minted NBA All-Defensive second-teamers Garnett and Rajon Rondo (while Ray Allen scrambled over late with help), before throwing down a vicious one-handed jam over Pierce. Add in the and-one free throw and the Sixers were out front 46-41 with 6:50 to play in the third quarter. Iguodala's old-fashioned three-point play capped an 11-0 burst after Boston had led by as much as eight early in the second half.

LET'S NEVER TALK OF THE FIRST HALF AGAIN ... EVER
The Celtics and 76ers combined to connect on a mere 27 of 76 shots (35.5 percent) in the first half that featured more droughts than the Atacama Desert.
The Celtics 13 of 41 (31.7 percent) and 76ers 14 of 35 (40 percent) combined for a mere 12 second-quarter field goals (30 percent shooting) and 28 total points. After a near five-minutes stretch without a bucket, Garnett hit a late jumper and Mickael Pietrus added a 3-pointer -- accounting for two of Rondo's three assists in the first half -- and Boston actually led 36-33 at the intermission. The first half also featured 16 turnovers (9 by Philadelphia). Just a complete eyesore.

THEY STOLE HIS MOVE
Poor Keyon Dooling. Not only did "The Reverend" eat some leather when Thad Young saved a ball by throwing it off Dooling's face late in the first quarter, but the Philadelphia fans started Flexin' -- Dooling' signature sideline dance move -- to celebrate the moment. On this night, the Celtics rarely had reason to flex.

SIXERS BRING BACK THE ANSWER
Looking for a Game 6 spark with their backs against the wall, the Sixers brought back Allen Iverson to deliver the game ball before tip-off. Dressed in a No. 23 76ers jersey, Iverson handed the ball to referee Joey Crawford, dapped up the entire Sixers' roster, then departed to a strong ovation. It didn't seem to help his old team out of the gates, but a little JumboTron montage got the crowd roaring in the second half and Iverson waved in appreciation from a luxury box.

CELEBRITIES!
Iverson might have been the biggest name in the building, but the 76ers also trotted out the U.S. women's soccer team, actor Kevin Hart, rapper Meek Mill, and Eagles running back LeSean McCoy. Boston's Ayla Brown not only handled her normal anthem duties, but sang a few songs as the halftime act.

WHAT IT MEANS
Don't tell me you didn't see this coming. The Celtics continued their Big Three era pattern of acting allergic to first-try closeouts. Heck, the team is now 10-13 in closeout opportunities overall. Fortunately for Boston, they often take care of business at home and will get a second chance to end things with Saturday's Game 7 in the friendly confines of TD Garden. Boston will look back and kick itself as the Sixers tried their damndest to let Boston end this series -- turning the ball over nine times in the first half (for 10 points) and missing 11 free throws overall. Boston never got into a rhythm offensively and when jumpers wouldn't fall (particularly for Brandon Bass, who was 2 of 12), they couldn't play catchup as the 76ers got easy points near the rim. The Celtics get two much-needed days to rest weary legs (KG played 41 minutes) before a decisive Game 7.

Worst game of the season by a long shot.

Rondo was tentative.
KG was off until the very end.
Bass was awful
Ray was terrible except for a few shots in the last 2 minutes
Dooling was AWFUL. If he made a couple of shots, the Celtics win this game.
Steamer - non factor
Pietrus - got beat over and over by Holiday
Hollins except for a few plays, we just taking up space.
DOC - MIA

Only one who came to play was Pierce.

Having said all that, they still had the game in their grasp with a few minutes left.

The Celtics will win this series, but they sure dont make it easy on themselves.

Hard to undrstand sometimes.

We can look so good then so bad. Defensively we let them do about whatever they wanted, think even Hubie mentionsed that we can be broken down by the dribble, which we were multiple times. Bradley sure would have helped but we have won without him before....

SO even if we get by this series..... can we really expect to advance past Miami or Indiana with the injuries we have?

Quess I won't really worry about that now anyway as game 7 is enough for now. Philly will be a tough out even at home, we have given them light, Collins is a good coach and he will have them ready, Doc will have the troops ready too. Just can't afford to fall behind by too much to soon.

Just not ready for the season to end quite yet.

beat

There is nothing more dangerous than giving your opponents hope.

I agree with everything said so far by 112288 and MrKleen. If Philly in general, and Iggy in particular, hadn't been soooo bad from the line this would have been a blow out.

1. The first couple of minutes of the game saw Rondo throwing himself into bigs at the rim and getting stuffed for his efforts. For the rest of the game, he backed off. With 5 minutes left in the game and still winnable, Rondo was doing what I used to get on Bradley for doing, he'd run up to the top of the key and stop instead of driving the defense back. A very passive Rondo last night.

2. Our backcourt's defense, in general, stunk. Holliday and Williams owned Rondo, as 112288 points out, and Turner burned Ray repeatedly. Evan Turner is not going to beat your from 20, Ray! Why were you getting up on him when you know he's young, athletic and wants to put the ball on the floor? A couple of quick fouls on Ray limited his effectiveness for the game but some of his fouls were just bad defense by Ray. How embarrassing that Rondo would deliver this kind of defensive letdown on the same day he was named 2nd team All-Defense.

3. Garnett came to play but even then his brain didn't get out of his way. He had a God-awful 1st half, shooting 3-10 and just making some dumb defensive plays, plays we very rarely see from him. In the 2nd half, though, he started to pull himself together. He shot 6-10 in the 2nd half but he committed some fouls which make me shake my head. Traveling? When traveling is called in the NBA it's either because the player over-committed to a move or the player's brain shut down and the call was just so obvious the refs couldn't ignore it. In KG's case, it was the latter.

4. Loved Pietrus' energy and hustle. Can't say much for his execution. Same is true for anybody in green.

5. Bass couldn't shoot from outside and saw no love from the refs inside.

If we shot a pedestrian 45%, we'd have had 9 more fgm. That's a minimum of 18 more points. That would have more than offset any improvement in Philly's ft shooting %. That's all we had to do, hit a decent percentage of shots.

No running, no motion in our halfcourt offense. It was just give the ball to Pierce and let him go 1-on-5. We cannot and will not win like that.

Well, this is it. Win or stay home.

bob

.

I got so disgusted I just listened to the radio, shut the television off, I just couldn't watch them play such a terrible game at such an important time.
My thoughts are these:

1. You just can't blame Ray, he is playing on two bad ankles, not one. His whole rhythm is thrown way off. Should he have been more alert? Probably yes, but it is obvious he is in pain
2. What the heck happened to Rondo last night? He was so out of it it was sickening. When he is great, he is great, but when he plays like he did last night, it makes you wonder, Is this the future?
3. KG tried last night, 20 points, 11 rebounds, but it just wasn't enough
Is this it???????
4. This is one tired team right now, do we really want to think what Miami
will do to them? Maybe losing tomorrow would be better???? I can't believe I am saying this.
5. No Bradley, no defense on Jru Holiday.
6. In a game where the 76ers missed so many free throws, it is impossible to believe that up until the last few minutes. the Celtics were in this game.
7. This was the ugliest playoff basketball game I have seen the Celtics play in years.
8..THEY WILL STILL WIN TOMORROW

Bob,
I wonder who's who in your picture? But I agree with your comments. I'd add that the only other player who came to play was PP.

Rosalie,
Yes, it was disgusting.
I don't think anybody blames RA. The blame is on Doc. I don't understand why he kept him on the floor for so long when it was obvious it didn't work: RA couldn't shoot and was a disaster on defense. Try something else - you have nothing to loose.

Let's see what happens on Saturday....

AK

Doc is in a tough spot with the Bradley/Ray problem.
He is not going to go to Moore at this point.
Dooling is an active defensive player and better then Ray right now on D, but he doesn't score enough to keep himself on the court.
Boston's issue has been lack of offense, not lack of defense.
If Boston can score 90-95 points, they will win almost every game.

tjmakz wrote:Doc is in a tough spot with the Bradley/Ray problem.
He is not going to go to Moore at this point.
Dooling is an active defensive player and better then Ray right now on D, but he doesn't score enough to keep himself on the court.
Boston's issue has been lack of offense, not lack of defense.
If Boston can score 90-95 points, they will win almost every game.

TJ,
Agree with you. But Dooling is mainly to backup RR. When I mentioned someone to get RA out off the floor I was thinking about SP or MD: they can play at 2.

AK

Sasha is so deep on the bench, it seems he will never get off. I just don't understand what he did, look at the game he scored all those points in, there is talent there. He is not afraid to put a body on anyone, come on Doc give him a shot.

Doc's going to have to give Sasha & 'Quis meaningful minutes since Ray's mobility is limited and Bradley won't even dress. The Sixers are healthier and more athletic in a potential match up with the Heat than the CElts would be. Unless Grainger could submarine James or Wade on a drive to the rim, even Bosh's absence won't stop Miami from making it to the finals. Only consolation is they won't have enough left to challenge the Spurs or OKC. I give our guys in green credit for a hard fight. We just have more chambers in our gun than we have bullets to fill them with.

MD!