Thank God Losses Never Count for Two: Sixers Drop Bout With Celtics in Convincing Fashion

In my preview for last night's game (in which I erroneously stated that the game would be in Boston--just had to get that tired Dropkick Murphys reference in there I guess), I mentioned that it would be "interesting to see how the Sixers' offense, hot off a scorching-hot performance in New York, responds to the lockdown D of the Green and White." Well, "interesting" was one word for it, but I think "horrifying," "depressing" and "gratingly predictable" all ended up fitting better. The Sixers got embarrassed--or at least, they would have, if fans had actually showed up--by the Celtics on their home court, to the tune of 105-74.

The Celtics D closed all lanes to the basket early on in the game, and the Sixers responded with some of the most staggeringly dreadful outside shooting you're likely to see this NBA season. Ever heard of a Celtics rookie named Lester Hudson? Me neither. Well, he had more three-pointers--two, accrued in fourth-quarter garbage time--than the entire Sixers team. Lou and Thad were both 0-4, the latter not even coming close on most of his shots, and the bench was a combined 1-7, the "1" coming courtesy of rookie Jrue Holiday in the game's waning minutes. You're not going to beat many teams like that, and especially not the Celtics, who responded by going an incredible 14-20 behind the arc themselves, including six sunk by Philly homeboy Rasheed Wallace, who received more fanfare from the audience than anyone on the Sixers (and deservedly so).

The three-point shooting might've been the worst of it, but it wasn't the only bad part. Thad had one of his worst games as a Sixer, pulling a couple nice moves in the post but trying too hard to make things happen on drives and looking way off all night on his jumper, going 4-16 from the field and turning the ball over four times. Elton still hasn't found his stroke yet, getting a couple nice looks on short-range jumpers but consistently rimming them short. (Though Elton at least actually looked better than his Boston counterpart Kevin Garnett, also coming off injury, and also miserable on his normally-automatic fadeaway). The Two White Jasons (now to be known in short as 2WJ) basically contributed nothing, Speights was outclassed, and perhaps most frustratingly of all, the team missed two technical free throws, unable to convert even on the points that Boston was just giving away.

To keep this from getting suicidal, a positive. Though Andre Iguodala didn't have a huge stat night to speak of (17 points, 3 assists, 3 steals, 7-14 FG), he quietly had a very nice game, actually managing to penetrate suffocating Boston D several times in the third quarter for some impressive layups. Meanwhile, he was extremely active on defense, making Boston sharp-shooter Ray Allen a non-factor (2-8 for 5 points), and breaking up a number of plays with tips and deflections. He'd have six or seven assists, too, if his teammates had made half the good looks he got them. It wasn't the kind of performance that was ever going to salvage this game, but 'Dre never seemed out of his depth out there, and that's a little encouraging. (We also got to see Jrue in his most extended, albeit garbage-time, minutes thusfar--not too bad, a couple risky passes, but some nice finds and an always-welcome three-ball).

In the end, we played the two best teams in the Eastern Conference this past week, and we got appropriately shellacked. It sucks, but it's rarely going to be quite this bad, and we (hopefully) get to recover on Friday against a rebuilding Nets squad. Until then, you may now divert your full attention to the team in the pinstripes.

Comments

[Poster Nutbag]

my dad, either to punish me or reward me, gave me his nets tickets for friday. because of the SEPTA strike i will have to leave super-duper early to get there in advance of the crowds that will be descending on the wachovia center in anticipation of this highly regarded match up of basketball titans.

the one saving grace is that i won't care much about anything on friday once the phillies win game 7.

[Bob]

Over under attendance for Friday's game vs. Nets: 10,000

I'm gonna say over in "tickets sold" and under in actual attendance

[DP]

Need 2 flushes for this turd of a team to get down the toilet. Simply embarrassing. Boston is clearly the better team but we showed no heart and simply rolled over to the hated Celtics at home. Nice job.

[ejt]

less than ten years ago the Phillies were consistently in the bottom 3 in the NL in attendance and the Sixers were selling out almost every game.

times have certainly changed.