Sixers' slump continues with lopsided loss at Boston
While many in TD Garden were busy checking their phones for Masters updates, the 76ers were scoring about as often as CBS' coverage of the season's first major goes to commercial.
BOSTON - On a day when many Christians around the world observed a resurrection, the 76ers' offense remained lifeless. And their playoff hopes are nearing life-support condition.
For the 10th time in 14 games, the Sixers lost, this time to the Atlantic Division-leading Boston Celtics, 103-79. Boston has a three-game lead on the Sixers and any hopes of winning the division seemed to get thrown into the nearby Boston Harbor.
Holding onto a playoff spot is also close to getting washed away as the New York Knicks, with their win Sunday over the Chicago Bulls, pulled into the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference and dropped the Sixers to eighth. Though both teams have the same record at 29-27, the Knicks own the tiebreaker as they took two of three from the Sixers this season. The Sixers are only one game ahead of the ninth-place Milwaukee Bucks.
For now, though, playoff talk should be the furthest thing to come out of anyone's mouth concerning this team. Approaching the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, the Sixers appeared to be submerging just as quickly.
"They are playing great," coach Doug Collins said of the Celtics, who improved to 32-24, including 17-7 since the All-Star break. "Doc [Rivers, Boston coach] is great, he's got his team poised. They're getting strong at the right time. They're going to be a handful. I would not want to have to play them in the playoffs."
That is a problem way down the line on Collins' list, that's for certain. More problematic now is what is happening with his team.
In the second quarter, while many at TD Garden were busy checking their phones for the Masters leaderboard, the 76ers were scoring about as often as CBS' coverage of the season's first golf major goes to commercial.
After a somewhat spry first 12 minutes in which they trailed by only three points, the Sixers got colder than the chilly Garden, and in a hurry. Though many shots were open, the Sixers didn't make them, hitting just two of their first 14 of the second quarter - and one of them was a goaltending call. That three-point deficit grew faster than Tiger Woods' Masters score, getting as high as 28. And just to drive home the point that it hadn't forgotten two earlier losses this season to the Sixers by a combined 45 points, Boston made 70 percent of its shots in the third quarter to drive away any thoughts of a Sixers comeback. But as poorly as they've been playing recently, those ideas probably never even formed.
The Sixers uncharacteristically turned the ball over with alarming regularity early, got pushed around by the Celtics and looked very much like a newcomer in a territorial fight with a longtime owner. Whoever thought Boston was going to give up the Atlantic Division easily, even after a 15-17 record at the All-Star break, was sadly mistaken.
The inconsistency that has plagued the Sixers lately reared its ugly head again Sunday. In the loss to Orlando on Saturday, reserves Thaddeus Young, Lou Williams and Jodie Meeks provided much of the offense, scoring 51 of the team's 82 points. Against Boston those three combined to shoot 4-for-20 for 16 total points.
"That's sort of been the story," Collins said. "[Saturday] our bench scored 51 points and our starters couldn't [do anything]. [Sunday] it was like our starters had some points and our bench couldn't score."
If there was a bright spot in the loss, it was the play of rookie Nikola Vucevic, who saw his most extensive playing time (28 minutes, 37 seconds) in a month. He was inserted early in the first quarter after a weak turnover by Spencer Hawes and collected 14 points and 13 rebounds. Andre Iguodala scored 13 and Evan Turner 10 for the Sixers, who will play at New Jersey on Tuesday then head to Toronto for a game the next night.
But the bad, again, far outweighed the good as the Sixers shot just 38.2 (29-for-76) percent from the floor, turned the ball over 16 times and allowed Boston to shoot 58.8 percent (40-for-68). Kevin Garnett led Boston with 20 points, while Brandon Bass and Avery Bradley added 18 apiece and Paul Pierce 17. Rajon Rondo dealt 15 assists in just over 29 minutes.
So where to go from here with just 10 games left in 17 days?
"Everyone is just trying to do too much right now," said Young, "taking into their own hands and trying to act like Superman. We have to work together as a team and just go out there and play and execute, play great defense and find a way to make some shots. Yes [they can turn it around before the season ends]. For the simple fact that we started 3-13 and there was a quick turnaround last season. We just got to figure out how to do it and put together some games."
Like the Celtics are doing now.
"The defense is really good, guys are locked in," Rivers said. "Your offense will fail you. I don't care how well you play, your offense is going to fail you sometimes. But if you come with the right mind-set, your defense never should and it will always give you a chance to win a game."
Unless your offense is as anemic as the Sixers' is right now.