Sixers send series back to Boston
PHILADELPHIA, PA » Brad Stevens laid it out plain and simple before this one.
The Celtics had a chance to end the Eastern Conference semifinals here, to complete the sweep and give themselves until Sunday to get ready for the Cavaliers. It would have been time to heal, time for Jaylen Brown’s hamstring and now Shane Larkin’s shoulder.
The word from Stevens was a fair warning.
“If you don’t bring it, the game will be honest,” the Celtics coach said.
And on a night when his team was moved to question the judgment, if not the integrity, of the officiating, the Celts honestly didn’t help themselves. They rarely got fully into their offense and committed 15 turnovers, from which the 76ers derived 16 points and an all- expenses-paid trip to Boston for a Game 5 tomorrow night.
For all the process trusting and playing to the home crowd, the Sixers’ 103- 92 win came from a 16-3 advantage in points off turnovers and nine-point edge in second-chance scoring.
In the end, the Celtics were called for just five more fouls, and the teams each attempted 26 free throws.
Put it this way, when you al-
low your opponent 16 offensive rebounds, it’s hard to point the finger anywhere but at thyself. Because of their giveaways and meek work on the glass, the Celtics took 19 fewer shots than Philly’s 94. Nineteen shots.
You let that happen, you’re begging for an L.
“It has nothing to do with the officials,” said Stevens. “We have to play better. Philly did a great job. They pounded on us. They were very physical with us. They were tough.”
When the turnovers were mentioned, Stevens quickly interjected, “And offensive rebounding. I thought that when you look at the difference in possessions, those are going to stand out to you.”
That didn’t mean there wasn’t steam emanating from Celtics ears. The tone was set in the second quarter. The Celts were called for 12 personals in the period to just 1 (one, uno, un, eins) for the Sixers. And while Greenhearts threw items at their televisions, the 76ers came back to take a 47- 43 lead into the break.
The Celts questioned several of the calls, their best case coming when Marcus Smart dove for a loose ball, beat Ben Simmons to it and still got whistled.
The camel’s back received its fatal straw with a little more than three minutes left in the third quarter. The Celts had closed a 10-point deficit to four and were in the midst of a serious surge when Ersan Ilyasova scored on a drive. But that wasn’t all. Ilyasova didn’t appear to be impeded, but Brown was called for a reach-in as he tried to drop down and help out. It was Brown’s fifth foul, and he was incredulous.
The Bostonians had been brought to a boil. And before the Celtics could make another move for the hoop, they were down by nine.
I l yasova completed the three-point play, then Brown was called for a technical foul. Then Stevens ( yes, Brad Stevens) was called for a technical foul. Marco Belinelli hit both techs, and Philly was up, 71- 62.
That’s the closest the Celts would be for the rest of the night.
Smart avoided each question about the officiating, but accepted his own club’s blame.
“Real ly f rustrated,” Smart said. “They pushed us out. They were very physical. We weren’t physical back. It was kind of hard to be physical back, but we couldn’t do it. It is what it is. Now it’s back to Boston. We know what we had to do. We knew we were supposed to keep our cool. We knew they were going to come in and try to get it chippy. We knew it. You know, we have a lot more to lose than they did. We knew that.
“We knew what kind of game this was going to be coming in. We knew they weren’t going to let us sweep ‘em. We knew they were going to come out. We knew what it was. We knew we were going to have to battle. We knew it. You know, we did our job. We got one. Now it’s back to the crib.”
It’s a Game 5 the Celtics would have done well to avoid, but they’re acting like the series will be going no further.
“I’m very confident,” said Smart. “Man, what’s understood don’t need to be said. I think everybody in the world knows what the Garden crowd’s going to be like.”