Thursday’s Game 6 in Philadelphia displayed absolutely none of the winning habits the Celtics built their success on this season. They were met with a second chance to end this first-round series, after fumbling Tuesday’s Game 5.
Boston could’ve flipped a switch, came to play, and locked in for four quarters of winning hoops. That’s what an experienced team with a championship-winning core would do -- get punched in the mouth, punch back.
Instead, they played 39 minutes of loser ball, and looked like the team that many felt they’d be back in September before training camp. They ate punches the entire night. It was evident pretty much from the opening tip.
More missed free-throws than made, nine first-half turnovers, and even more empty possessions -- you name it, there was plenty of all of it.
They clearly missed their wake-up call.
Philly made them pay for it. The hosts hung 38 second-quarter points on the Cs and completely captured all momentum going into the break.
How crazy is it that 48 hours after posting an 11-point fourth quarter with a series win staring them right in the face on Tuesday, that the Celtics, once again, failed to create any consistent offense?
The Celtics' third quarter was pathetic
The cherry on top of this s-- sundae was Boston’s 14-point third quarter. It was perhaps the most embarrassing stretch of basketball this team has played all season long. They’d just spent the first 24 minutes hanging on for dear life while the Sixers showed them how badly they wanted to extend the series.
Despite the two sides shooting roughly the same in the first half, the 76ers dominated the margins -- the Celtics’ typical calling card. Philly held the Celtics to just one offensive rebound, despite plenty of opportunities with their heap of misses.
How did they respond?
In short, by turning the ball over on their first two possessions while Philadelphia scored five straight points, and pushed their lead to 14. Jayson Tatum threw a bad pass in traffic, which quickly turned into a transition three for Paul George. Then, Jaylen Brown commited his fourth foul of the night when he slammed into George on a dribble handoff.
Two careless plays from their two stars eviscerated any hopes of mounting a second half surge.
From that point on, Boston never got within double digits again.
The same sticky “watch this” ball that fans feel has hurt the team in years past reared its ugly head again with what felt like its season on the line.
Before Joe Mazzulla subbed all of the regulars out early in the fourth quarter, the Celtics had tallied just 65 points. Said regulars played a lifeless, unadjusted game all night, so much so that when the reserves actually played with some sort of energy, it was too late to matter.
A 76ers team that seemed to be dead and buried after getting beaten in their own building by 32 points is now full of life. Not only that, but they seem to have sucked it out of the Celtics, who are looking like they’ll be the 14th team in NBA history to blow a 3-1 series lead.
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