Celtics' first-round collapse looks even more pathetic as 76ers flop vs. Knicks

When the final buzzer sounded at TD Garden last Saturday, it sealed the Boston Celtics’ devastating first-round series collapse. In the moment, it felt like there was a chance that this Philadelphia 76ers team had something special to it. Against all odds, they’d climbed out of a 3-1 deficit to beat Boston for the first time in 44 years.

Their stars looked great. They got good performances out of their role players. Their team as a whole showed tremendous resolve to stay in the fight even when it felt like the Celtics were due to finish them off late in Game 5.

As Celtics president Brad Stevens said multiple times earlier this week, the Sixers deserved to win that series.

The demon that tormented Joel Embiid through the first decade plus of his NBA career had finally been exorcised, right?

Well, maybe not.

After their three-game Linsantiy run, the 76ers are back to being pathetic

Now, a week removed from the series deciding Game 7, it’s becoming abundantly clear that Lucky died for absolutely nothing. The Sixers are one loss away from being swept in the second round by the New York Knicks, and look nothing like the team that eliminated the Celtics.

Frankly, they look exactly like the team everyone expected them to be when the playoffs began. The Knicks have delivered punch after punch, while the 76ers have laid there and just eaten all of it.

They have no answer.

Tyrese Maxey’s scoring average is down roughly eight points per game. He’s turning the ball over nearly three more times per outing, too. Joel Embiid’s numbers are down, too. The big man is scoring 12 fewer points per game, despite looking unstoppable at times against Boston, and he’s shooting just 35% (!) from the field.

Not only has he been poor offensively, but the Knicks have exploited Embiid as the defensive weakness that many thought he'd be when he returned in the first round. They're targetting him in switches and forcing him to come out of the paint.

Boston just accepted that he was going to park down low and anchor the psudo-zone that the 76ers threw at them.

Plus, known sharpshooter, Andre Drummond, has yet to sink a three against New York, despite making four of his six attempts against Boston in the first round.

Philadelphia’s players looked absolutely lifeless on the bench in the closing minutes of Friday’s Game 3 loss.

It’s sickening.

Things have gotten so bad in “The City of Brotherly Love” that Embiid has resorted to complaining about the officiating.

"They shot 32 free throws, we had 16. We're not a team that shoots a lot of threes. We attack, put the ball on the ground. I don't know,” he said via SNY postgame. “I guess it's good when New York wins, so we've just got to have that mentality of just not fouling, I guess, and being smart enough to not put ourselves in a position where they're going to take advantage of it."

Ironic, isn’t it?

Where was this loser mentality in the Celtics series?

It was already devastating enough to see Boston lose to Philly -- something we’ve all been taught isn’t meant to ever happen. But, to see it happen for absolutely no reason is exponentially more disgusting.

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