Posts Tagged ‘Boston Celtics’

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Sixers’ Unexpected Run Comes To An End

May 26, 2012  ·  11:41PM





BOSTON – No one thought the Philadelphia 76ers would make it this far. And no one gave them much of a chance in Game 7 either.

But there they were, down three with the ball and a little more than four minutes to go in the fourth quarter. Paul Pierce had just fouled out, and you had to think the Sixers had a shot.

It turned out, instead, that Rajon Rondo had a shot. And when Rondo beats you with a long two and a long three, and when Ray Allen finally connects on a couple of shots from beyond the arc after missing his first five, you might just have to shrug your shoulders and realize it just wasn’t your day.

The Sixers could look back at Game 7 and the series as a whole, and choose to remember the turnovers and missed free throws. They shot 24-for-30 from the free throw line on Saturday and just 69 percent in the series. These seven games were downright ugly and the Sixers struggled to score throughout. So to not take advantage of every trip to the line is just shooting yourself in the foot.

“It’s just our inability to score that’s sort of plagued us throughout the season,” Sixers coach Doug Collins said.

But Philly also had their positive moments to look back on. They out-executed the veteran Celtics in three of the seven games. Their young players certainly gained a ton of valuable big-game experience. And they learned that if you play hard, play together, and play defense, you can go further than you should otherwise.

That’s really what this Sixers team should be remembered for. If you can overlook the missed free throws, they made the most of what they had. They were a great defensive team without a dominating big man. And they were a decent enough offensive team without a go-to guy.

Really, teams without stars aren’t supposed to take teams with four stars to seven games in the conference semifinals, but the Sixers did. They played the Celtics’ style and almost matched them defensive stop for defensive stop.

“The Sixers are a pain in the ass,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “They are a tough basketball team.”

Sure, things would likely have been different if Derrick Rose didn’t tear his ACL in the first game of this postseason. But that doesn’t mean the Sixers didn’t earn their way here.

“It was a good run,” Jrue Holiday said. “We fought to the end.”

***

John Schuhmann is a staff writer for NBA.com. Send him an e-mail or follow him on twitter.

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Posted in 2012 NBA Playoffs / Comments (14) /

Sixers Need 48 Minutes Of Focus

May 26, 2012  ·  1:23PM





BOSTON – The Philadelphia 76ers know how to beat the Boston Celtics. They’ve done it five times already this year. So for them, Game 7 on Saturday (8 p.m. ET, ABC) is about execution and focus. Every possession counts, now more than ever.

“You just try to keep showing guys on tape things they’re doing,” Sixers coach Doug Collins said of preparing his players for the biggest game most of them have ever played in. “We can’t come in here and have dead possessions. You’ve got to be really focused and making sure that every time, both offensively and defensively, that you know what you’re doing on the floor. Offensively, so you can get good shots. And defensively, so you have a chance to defend and then, hopefully, get out in the open court.”

Speaking after his team’s shootaround, Collins said that his team can’t have any lapses.

“We talked to our guys about every time they get the chance, huddling up and making sure everybody knows what we’ve got out on the floor.”

The Sixers have had plenty of offensive droughts in this series already, but they may have found a formula for offensive success in the second half of Game 6, when they attacked Boston’s guards and got into the paint.
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Celtics Must Get In The Paint In Game 7

May 25, 2012  ·  1:05PM

PHILADELPHIA – Points in the paint are often cited as a key to a game or playoff series. And that makes sense, of course. Shots from the paint are better shots than shots from outside the paint. And if you’re getting more of the former, you’re probably playing more efficient offensively.

But not all teams score the same. You can have an efficient offense without scoring a lot of points in the paint, with the Clippers and Thunder as two examples of that this season.

The Boston Celtics don’t score a lot of points in the paint and they don’t have an efficient offense, either. But their points in the paint has been a key to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Overall, the Sixers have outscored the Celtics 232-206 in the paint over the course of six games. The Celtics have only had the PIP advantage once (Game 3). And Philly has actually scored more points in the paint in their three losses (124) than they have in their three wins (108). The big difference has come on the other end of the floor.

Celtics-Sixers points in the paint

Game BOS PHI
Game 1 38 40
Game 2 32 32
Game 3 50 38
Game 4 26 34
Game 5 44 46
Game 6 16 42
BOS wins 44.0 41.3
PHI wins 24.7 36.0

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Celtics And Sixers Have Game 7 History

May 25, 2012  ·  10:12AM





PHILADELPHIA – As the Philadelphia 76ers were preparing for Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Boston Celtics, head coach Doug Collins showed them film of the 1982 conference finals series between the two teams.

The Sixers actually lost Game 6 at home in ’82. In fact, they were up 3-1 in the series and dropped two straight and it was the second straight year they had done that. In 1981, the Celtics came back from a 3-1 deficit in the conference finals, won by a point in Game 7, and went on to win a championship.

So as the Sixers were heading back to Boston for Game 7 in ’82, they were getting trashed by the Philly fans and media. And few believed they could win a Game 7 in the Boston Garden.

But they did. Andrew Toney earned his “Boston Strangler” nickname with 34 points, the Sixers won Game 7 by 14, and the “Beat L.A.!” chant was born.

So Collins used that tape as motivation for his team, asking them, “How bad do we want to get back to Boston and Game 7, when all the odds say that you’re not going to win a Game 7?”

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Sixers Take Advantage Of Bradley’s Absence

May 23, 2012  ·  11:20PM





PHILADELPHIA – Before Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doug Collins stressed points in the paint as one of the biggest keys.

Then his team proceeded to outscore the Boston Celtics 42-16 in the paint, forcing Game 7 with a 82-75 victory.

This was an ugly game through and through. But the Sixers finally broke through offensively in the third quarter, largely because their guards were repeatedly able to get into the paint. And you had to wonder if things would have been different if the Celtics had Avery Bradley.

The second-year guard, who had made life tough for the Philly guards in the first four games, missed his second straight game with a pair of shoulder injuries. The Sixers’ Jrue Holiday, Evan Turner and Lou Williams took advantage.

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Turnovers Plague Sixers In Game 5

May 21, 2012  ·  9:36PM





BOSTON – The Philadelphia 76ers set an NBA record this season, turning the ball over just 11.2 times per game. The Sixers weren’t a good shooting team or a good offensive rebounding team. And they ranked last in the league in free throw rate. But they got by offensively because they took care of the ball better than any team in league history (or since turnovers were first recorded in the 1977-78 season).

In Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, the Sixers shot the ball pretty well (47 percent) from the field. They also gave themselves plenty of second-chance opportunities with 14 offensive rebounds.

But uncharacteristically, it was turnovers that killed the Sixers in Monday’s 101-85 loss to the Celtics. Philly was holding on to a four-point lead with eight minutes to go in the third quarter when they proceeded to turn the ball over five times on their next six possessions, sparking a 10-0 Boston run that changed the game.

Four of the five turnovers were of the live-ball variety, allowing the Celtics to get out in transition and Brandon Bass to turn into a beast underneath the basket.

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Bradley’s Status Unknown For Game 5

May 21, 2012  ·  12:33PM

BOSTON – Despite their second-half collapse in Game 4 on Friday, the Boston Celtics are seemingly still in control of their Eastern Conference semifinals series with the Philadelphia 76ers, with Game 5 tonight (7 ET, TNT) and a possible Game 7 on their home floor.

The Celtics have won 17 of their last 19 games at TD Garden and are 34-9 there in the Big Three era. Only once in the last five years have the Celtics lost more than one home game in a playoff series. That was in 2009, when they lost Games 1 and 7 to the Magic.

Kevin Garnett missed that entire postseason. And as we’ve already seen in these playoffs, injuries can trump home-court advantage.

Right now, the Celtics’ biggest injury concern is not with any of their veterans. It’s with the youngest guy on their roster, Avery Bradley. The second-year defensive specialist has been dealing with a left shoulder issue most of the season, and it has already popped out twice in this series.

Bradley was not on the floor for Monday morning’s shootaround, and he’s listed as a game-time decision for Game 5.

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Garnett Comes Back To Earth

May 21, 2012  ·  9:32AM





BOSTON – Through the first three games of the Eastern Conference semifinals, Kevin Garnett was shooting 31-for-49 (63 percent) from the field, including an incredible 20-for-31 (65 percent) from outside the paint.

Then in Game 4, Garnett made just three of his 12 shots and was 2-for-9 from outside the paint. The Celtics blew an 18-point lead, scored just 37 points in the second half and got out-executed down the stretch by the Sixers for the second time in the series.

Was it because the Celtics didn’t go into the post enough? Not really. He posted up more than he did when he shot 12-for-17 in Game 3.

Was it because Lavoy Allen, the Sixers’ best defender on Garnett, was on the floor with K.G. for 30 minutes on Friday? Perhaps. They were on the floor together for a total of just 37 minutes in the first three games combined. For the series, Garnett is shooting 9-for-21 (43 percent) with Allen on the floor and 25-for-40 (63 percent) with Allen on the bench.

But maybe Garnett’s Game 4 shooting was just a case of regression toward the mean. He was due for an off night, and that’s just what he had.

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Sixers Get Clutch Again, Tie Series

May 18, 2012  ·  11:17PM





PHILADELPHIA – Andre Iguodala has never really been known as a clutch player. One of the best defenders in the league? Yes. A terrific passing forward? Absolutely.

But as the Philadelphia 76ers’ best player, Iguodala hasn’t been able to help his team much in late-game situations. As a result, Philly has had a pretty poor record in close games over the years.

But on Friday, in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, after shooting 2-for-9 through the first 44 1/2 minutes, Iguodala hit three huge jumpers down the stretch to lead his team to a 92-83 victory over the Boston Celtics to give us our first 2-2 series of the 2012 postseason.

The first was a left-wing three off a drive and kick from Thaddeus Young that tied the game at 79 with 3:11 to go. The second was a step-back jumper that put Philly up 85-83 with 1:22 to go. And on the next possession, Iguodala hit a dagger right-wing three off a feed from Lou Williams.

For the second time in this series, the Sixers, who have been just awful in these situations over the last two seasons, finished the game with a terrific run of clutch offense. In Game 2, they scored on eight of their last nine possessions. And in Game 4, they scored on their last seven.

The Celtics’ defense was typically stifling for most of the night. But the Sixers also had themselves to blame for the 18-hole they were in early in the third quarter, missing free throws and open shots. But then they pulled themselves out of it with defense and hustle, forcing 17 turnovers and grabbing 17 offensive rebounds.

“They outworked us,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said.

Then they got clutch.

 

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Does Philly Need A Lineup Change?

May 18, 2012  ·  11:47AM





PHILADELPHIA – Just like you, Sixers coach Doug Collins (or at least someone on his staff) has access to NBA.com’s Advanced Stats tool. The Sixers coach noted Thursday that Kevin Garnett is shooting 71 percent (24-for-34) with Lavoy Allen on the bench and 47 percent (7-for-15) with Allen on the floor.

Philly’s rookie big man, who has made somewhat of a name for himself in this series, is listed at only 6-foot-9. But in defending Garnett, speed is more important than size, because KG gets his best post position when he beats his man down the floor in transition.

“You have to do a better job early,” Collins said of slowing down Garnett. “You can’t let him get such deep position. You can’t let him run to the front of the rim and turn and just stand underneath the basket. You’ve got to start maybe meeting him at the free throw line.

“He has the mobility factor over both of our starters. Both EB [Elton Brand] and Spencer [Hawes], he has the speed advantage. So therefore, he’s going to get down the floor, and that’s a problem.”

Not only is it important to defend Garnett early in every possession, it’s critical to defend him in early in the game. The Celtics have made it clear that their biggest offensive priority is establishing the post early and often. So the obvious question is whether or not Collins should make a change to his lineup and start Allen.

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