Sixers 92, Celtics 83: Well, that went drastically wrong
To call that a blown opportunity would be insulting blown opportunities everywhere. If the Celtics hadn’t completely fallen off a cliff and died on impact after seizing an early 12-0 lead, this series would be 3-1 and for all intents and purposes over. The Sixers did whatever they could during the first half to hand this one to Boston. They missed free throws like a bunch of Shaqs, shot 23 percent from the field and were clearly laying motionless on the ground, waiting for the Celtics to jump off the top ropes and end this game with a devastating People’s Elbow. But the Celtics didn’t capitalize. Instead the Sixers regrouped in the second half and have all the confidence in the world returning to Boston.
In the final two quarters, the Celtics got beat to every loose ball, got outrebounded by who-knows-how-many (if I look that stat up right now I might throw my computer out the window), and allowed approximately 47,365,287 open shots, layups or dunks.
The series is now 2-2. It shouldn’t be.
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Celtics Blog | Jay King | May 18, 2012
Just like game two, they didn’t show up for the third quarter, giving up a huge lead with TURNOVERS and easy fast breaks for Philly. Just like game 2, they ended up in a brawl in the fourth quarter, when Philly never should’ve been in the game; however, we didn’t FUCKING REBOUND, giving up how many second point opportunites???? Had we kept Philly off the boards in the fourth quarter, we still would’ve prevailed despite the horrible third Q. Garnett was off tonight, yet we still should’ve won this game. I’m disgusted, wanting to vomit. This may cost us the series. Philly has all the confidence and if they win game 5 in Boston, that could do it. Championship teams don’t blow games like this. If the C’s lose this series, they did it to themselves.
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Yeah, that was fucking ugly. They really shoulda seized this opportunity to clamp down and effectively end this series tonight, but Ray was a no-show as was the rest of the bench.
Dammit.
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They didn’t play with the smarts that they have and reverted to the crap Celtics that think jacking 3s and not rebounding (gave up 17 offensive rebs) will get it down because their sh*t doesn’t stink. Well I can smell it here in SAC. Hey PP how about guarding AI at the 3-line and not 6-10 ft off of him? Hey MP and KD can you shoot any shot other than a 3-pointer (1-7)??? The Cs scored 50 pts in the paint the last game and tonight had 26. Live by the jumper and die by the jumper. What a f’in LAME effort in the 2nd half. God I hate this team when they play like idiots (17 TOs and some of the lamest passes you’ll ever see). The series should be over. And as much as the refs were crap, the Cs play was worse. Go Cs…wake the f**k up and stop playing like you don’t have to give any effort.
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And why is Dooling in the game?? Three bricks from 3 land. Ray was minus 24 tonight in the plus minus column. And why isn’t Steimsma playing at all? He might actually stop some easy layups and rebound.
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Thank you James. I am so pissed off I can’t even articulate how pissed off I am. Hate to say it, but when we get off to a big lead, it’s a bad thing b/c they stop playing. Had the game been tied at half, we might’ve showed up for the second half, instead of pissing it away. Now we are in a dangerous position of having to win game 5 or else giving this series to Philly.
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They talk the talk but did not do the walk and so they look as sad as KG did at the end of the game. His birthday is now going to suck and he’s going to be one pissed MF for the next game, as they all should be. They quit driving to the paint and it cost them. Go Cs…I hate this version of the Cs.
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puke, how can u be so ON, then just disappear? get it together, celts in 6 still
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This core group never ever blew a play off game leading by 18 in the 3rd quarter… I hope they can come back from this loss. If they had just lost in a normal fashion I wouldn’t be concerned, but now I’m very concerned. Philly has now executed better in 2 out of 3 close games down the stretch
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Frank, good point, Philly is beating us in the final five minutes of close games. That’s what happens when you toy around with an inferior team. Philly is exactly where they want to be. The longer this series goes, the better for the underdog to steal another on the road from Boston. This series has a dangerous feel to it. I’m hoping i’m overreacting to today’s game, but I feel like I did after game one. The C’s are in trouble. Let’s hope they bounce back in game 5 and stop toying around. Does anyone remember the Sonics (1 seed) losing to Denver (8 seed) years ago? Sonics overlooked Denver, just as the C’s are doing with Philly. WAKE UP Celtics
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Sure, I remember Mutombo crying with joy with the ball in hands laying on the basketball court like yesterday. Hell, it was only hmmmm…94 Playoffs. Dikembe, Mahmoud Abdul Rauf, Laphonso Ellis, Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp, wow, there’s some names from the past. Good to see I’m not losing my memory. I don’t know WTF happened this game but i’ll take something straight which Garnett says from the BURN IT DOWN NBA playoffs promo and is the mindset moving forward: THERE’S NO ROOM FOR SOFT…18.
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Ray Allen needs to become a factor again. If he’s too injured to contribute, then he should rest until he can make a difference. Minus 24 is not going to do it.
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Plus/minus is a misleading stat. Don’t buy into that. RA had 6 rebs. RR was -6 and played pretty damn good. MP was -3 and sucked with zero rebs. I think it’s a lame stat as RA while he shot only 2-6 did other things that made up for his missed shots. His rebs alone are more than he averages (3) so that should count for more than a neg. 24 in plus/minus. Go Cs…they all should be -100 for pissing away the game. I’m as disappoint as you are and hopefully our team is.
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Well, at least we can remember game 3 in the offseason.
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Greg, are you implying this season is over?
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But, how much blame goes to Doc…? ALOT…Go back to the first quarter for the evidence…he needs to know when to coach instead of worrying about being buddy buddy with his players. And, why replace the starters with the second unit during the 1st quarter…let the core finish strong, right?! I just feel that it starts with Doc and he was sloppy first then the team became sloppy seconds last night…
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And why not give Sean Williams a run…excuse me, if he is hurt but, if he is not, c’mon Doc! He needs to get some Popovich in him…he gave the team another day off before game 4…at least make the bench get reps in if you feel the starters need rest… *rambling in frustration*
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