Philadelphia Sixers vs. Boston Celtics Game 6

Somehow, 76ers get to a Game 7 against Celtics

By Bob Ford / The Philadelphia Inquirer
Thursday, May 24, 2012

PHILADELPHIA — There was no reason this playoff series was going to get any easier, or any prettier, and neither of those happened Wednesday night in the Wells Fargo Center. What happened was even better as far as the 76ers were concerned, however.

The Sixers played well enough to beat a disjointed Boston Celtics [team stats] team, 82-75, and force a Game 7 in the
Eastern Conference semifinals on Saturday at TD Garden. If you can’t be proud of every bit of the execution, at least be proud of the result, and the Sixers certainly were. They were more aggressive. They were faster. On this night, they were clearly better.

As for the Celtics, perhaps getting two days off will bring them back fresh for the final game of the series. Maybe they will romp away as they did in Game 5 in Boston on Monday. But there was nothing for them to take from Wednesday’s game except 48 minutes of confidence-sapping ineptitude.
The Sixers didn’t rebound well, couldn’t make their free throws, and committed too many early turnovers, but they were determined to take the ball inside and get high-percentage shots, and that is what won it for them. They outscored Boston by 42-16 in the paint, even though Boston’s best weapons can get to the basket when they are so motivated.
That determination from the Sixers has pushed this series to the limit now, and Boston might have home court, but the Celtics certainly don’t have any right to believe that will magically heal their problems. In the second half, when the Sixers dominated the game, despite playing without an injured Thaddeus Young, Boston once again looked old, slow, and ready to leave town midway through the third period. The Celtics settled for jump shots, and on this night, enough of them weren’t going to go in.
Throughout the series, the basketball has been competitive but rarely attractive, and Wednesday’s game kept that theme going from the start. The Celtics were off-kilter on offense, looking for a hot hand and not finding one in the early going.
Boston made just 32 percent of its shots in the opening quarter and committed three turnovers. The result was only a three-point deficit, however, as the Sixers held a 22-19 lead but were having problems of their own.

At their offensive end, it was either a basket or a return to the other end of the court as the Sixers struggled to get any offensive rebounds. Their attempts were so limited that they couldn’t put any space between themselves and the Celts despite shooting very well in the first quarter and collecting easy baskets in the paint.
Before the game, coach Doug Collins went down the short list of things he thought would decide the game and, if the Sixers lost, the series. It was a familiar list. If the Celtics got to the rim and to the free-throw line, Boston makes a living on picking off those easy points.
"We can’t allow that to happen," Collins said. "We have to make them inefficient, and they are one of the most efficient teams in the NBA."
Boston hung around despite its shooting woes because it did get the ball in the paint and did get to the line. Midway through the second period, the Celtics were 9 for 9 at the free-throw line, their only consistent scoring venue.
The Sixers held and lost a five-point lead in the third period, and they did it by shooting even worse than the Celtics. In one stretch of 10 possessions, they were 0 for 9 from the floor and tossed in a couple of turnovers for good measure.
It wasn’t as if Boston deserved the lead, but that’s the way it went. The Celtics kept trying to find outside offense to force the Sixers to play honest around the paint, but feeding the ball to Ray Allen only resulted in flat-footed misses since he couldn’t shake loose of any defender, including Jodie Meeks.
By the end of a truly ugly half, Boston held a 36-33 lead on a late three-pointer by Mickael Pietrus, the only three-point shot made by either team in the half. The Celtics’ overall shooting hadn’t improved, but the Sixers had dropped down to meet them. Add in the fact that the Sixers were loose with the ball (nine turnovers) and had zero second-chance points, and even a team as uninspiring as the Celtics could hold a lead.

It didn’t get much prettier in the second half, but the Sixers did win what had been the all-important third quarter to go up by four points, 60-56, entering the final period. They took the lead, but not control, and nothing less than the end of their season hung in the balance as they tried to make it stick.
They were able to do that, and now we’ll see whether that determination can carry over to a Game 7 in Boston.