PHILADELPHIA – Philadelphia 76ers Doug Collins, once again with his grandsons on the dais next to him in the postgame news conference, had difficulty explaining what he just witnessed.
By Howard Smith, US Presswire
Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce (34) and Philadelphia 76ers forward Andre Iguodala (9) go for a loose ball during the first quarter in Game 4 in the Eastern Conference semifinals Friday night at Philadelphia.
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"I don't even know where to start," Collins said. "Don't even know where to start."
Let's start with this: Down 18 to the much more experienced Celtics with 10:50 left in the third quarter and showing no signs the improbable was about to happen, the Sixers defeated the Celtics 92-83, evening this best-of-7 Eastern Conference semifinal series at 2-2.
RESULTS: 76ers 92, Celtics 83
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How the younger Sixers went from a 49-31 deficit early in third quarter to a victory includes a frenzied, exciting, baffling mix of paradoxes that salvaged a difficult-to-watch first half.
In the second half:
The Celtics were the ones who collapsed in the second half.
The Sixers were the ones who ran precision offense.
The Celtics were the ones whose defense failed.
The Sixers were the ones who found a way to stop big-time scorers.
"As I said going into the series, I think you'd probably say the advantage would be to Boston with their championship experience late in games, but I think our guys have shown in both Game 2 and Game 4, that we did a nice job closing those games out," Collins said.
Boston coach Doc Rivers' assessment is the antithesis of what he and so many others have come to expect from his team.
"We just lost our composure," Rivers said.
That's not something you hear often from him, if ever.
"We stopped running our stuff," he said. "Whenever that happens, I always think it's me. I think that there is something the coach can do to slow them down, to get them back in their sets, to get them back in their rhythm, and I couldn't do it. To me, I always think that's my fault."
Skip the first 25 minutes, 10 seconds of this game. It was ugly, rife with turnovers and more missed Sixers forward Evan Turner shots than he cares to think about.
Celtics fans might consider the next 22 minutes, 50 seconds hideous, too.
For the Sixers, it was beautiful basketball, the kind of play that escaped them in the first half and the kind of play Collins knew was possible.
"I just told our guys, 'We're just going to keep fighting. That's what we do. It ain't pretty. Just keep grinding it,' " Collins said.
The comeback began with a made free throw by Elton Brand and essentially ended with forward Andre Iguodala's three-pointer with 36.9 seconds gave Philadelphia an 88-83 lead.
In between, the Sixers staggered the Celtics with unmatched energy and focus.
"I told them, 'We're going to keep battling. Something good's going to happen here,' " Collins said.
From the 10:50 mark of the third quarter until the fourth-quarter buzzer, Philadelphia outscored Boston 61-34.
The Sixers shot 37.8% from the field for 48 minutes, but during that amazing run, they shot 55%, including 55.6% on 5-of-9 three-pointers. They held Boston to 32.4% shooting.
The Sixers are not going beat the Celtics often in a slow, half-court game. They need to use their athleticism - their ability to run, drive and slash to the basket and find open shooters.
"I don't know what clicked, but we started moving the ball," Collins said.
Iguodala, reserve guard Lou Williams and reserve forward Thaddeus Young were brilliant offensively during the 61-34 run. Iguodala scored 13 points and made 3-of-3 on three-pointers. Williams had 13 points and seven assists, and Young had eight points, seven rebounds and three assists, delivering beautiful, quick, short passes in tight spaces, the kind of passes that are often deflected or mishandled.
Young said the Sixers' big men work on those passes regularly, looking for open seems in the defense. They're prepared to throw and catch those passes.
"Our interior passing was great in the second half," Collins said.
The cutting, the passing, the ability to start making shots hammered Boston. The Sixers finished with 27 fastbreak points, 17 offensive rebounds and outshot the Celtics 36-19 at the free throw line
"That's tough to win in that way if you turn the ball over against the 76ers," Rivers said. "Everything we did was the prescription that you don't do to beat them."
The Sixers' offense wouldn't have mattered if not for their defense. In what has turned into an important storyline, Sixers rookie center Lavoy Allen, the 50th pick in the 2011 draft, has done a masterful job defensively on Garnett. Allen is agile, quick and lengthy enough to disrupt Garnett.
With Allen on the bench, Garnett is shooting 62.5% and the Celtics have outscored the Sixers by 50 points. With Allen on the court, Garnett is shooting 42.9% and the Celtics have been outscored by five points.
Collins has noticed and changed his substitution pattern in Game 4, putting Allen into the game three minutes into the quarter so Collins could have Allen match up with Garnett and give him rest when Garnett went to the bench.
"We tried to take away his deep post-ups," Collins said of Allen's work on Garnett. "We did a good job of not letting him catch the ball and shoot in rhythm. Our whole goal is try to make him dribble the ball, not just catch and shoot it."
Regardless if the Sixers win this series, the experience is turning them into a promising team for the future. This used to be a team that couldn't erase 10-point deficits and had trouble winning when trailing heading into the fourth quarter.
"We've talked about our growth throughout these playoffs, Iguodala said, "and we're starting to be consistent with growing up."
Doug Collins enjoys few things more than watching young ones grow up right before his eyes.
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