NBA PLAYOFFS
Sixers and Celtics to renew rivalry
Posted: Friday, May 11, 2012 5:00 pm | Updated: 8:15 am, Sat
May 12, 2012.
By Tom Moore Staff writer | http://tinyurl.com/7wfpx3k
The 76ers thoroughly enjoyed Thursday's stirring 79-78 Game 6
victory over the Bulls that moved them into the second round.
But coach Doug Collins was already thinking about facing the
Celtics in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals on
his walk to meet the media Thursday evening.
Game 1 is Saturday night in Boston (8 on TNT), with Game 2 on
Monday (7 on TNT) before the series shifts to Philadelphia for
Games 3 and 4 (Wednesday at 7 and Friday at a time TBA).
Collins knows the Celtics, with their experience — core
players Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo
— have been together for five years and are more familiar
with each other than the relatively young Sixers.
The Celtics won the NBA title in 2008, which was their first
season together.
"I told them, ‘Now we're in the high-rent district. Now you
start finding what it's all about,' " Collins said.
Though Pierce, Garnett and Allen are past their primes, they
are still dangerous.
"Boston is a great team," said Andre Iguodala, the hero of
Thursday's win by swishing two free throws with 2.2 seconds
remaining. "They've been here before and won championships, so
we're going to learn from this experience. We've definitely
got to play better."
The Celtics will try to play against the Sixers just how the
Bulls wanted to - slow the game down and make it a
grind-it-out, half-court game.
The Sixers, on the other hand, will attempt to get out on the
fast break as often as possible. They are not a very good
half-court team, as evidenced by shooting below 40 percent in
the last four games vs. Chicago — three of which they managed
to win.
It'll once again be a matter of which team can impose its will
on the other. The injury-riddled Bulls were more successful in
that aspect against the Sixers, yet lost in six games.
Collins is likely to have Evan Turner, who began starting in
Game 2, defend Rondo. Keeping Rondo, who averaged 16.8 points,
11.8 assists and 5.6 rebounds in the first-round drubbing of
the Hawks, from getting into the lane is one of the Sixers'
top priorities.
Iguodala will probably match up against Pierce, with Elton
Brand on Brandon Bass and Spencer Hawes on Garnett, who starts
as an undersized center. Boston's Avery Bradley starts at
shooting guard, with Allen coming off the bench. Jrue Holiday
would likely draw Bradley.
The Celtics are banged up. Pierce is nursing a sprained MCL,
Bradley has a sore rotator cuff and Allen is bothered by a
sore right ankle.
The Sixers, who were off Friday, won two of three against the
Celtics during the regular season. They handed Boston, which
was playing its third game in three nights, a 103-71
shellacking March 7 at the Wells Fargo Center, which was the
worst defeat of the Pierce-Garnett-Allen era.
The Sixers also prevailed, 99-86, at home on March 23. The
Celtics were on the second day of a back-to-back set, while
the Sixers were off the night before.
Boston dispatched the Sixers, 103-78, at the TD Garden in the
teams' finale April 8. Both teams played on April 7.
"We played well against them, but it's 0-0 now," Iguodala
said. "We caught them at a great time during the season with
back-to-backs and three games in three nights."
The eighth-seeded Sixers led the Atlantic Division for more
than three months before the Celtics overtook them on the way
to the division crown and accompanying No. 4 seed.
Garnett told reporters Friday that the Sixers are "a tough
team, man."
"They probably have five to seven guys who average double
figures that can kill you night in and night out," he said.
"They play very, very hard. They play with a lot of energy.
They play together. Doug has those guys believing."
The Sixers and Celtics are playing in the postseason for the
first time since Boston won, 3-2, in the 2002 first round.
They haven't met in a best-of-seven series since the 1985
conference final (a 4-1 Celtics victory).
The teams played in the conference finals four times from
1980-85, with each winning twice — one time each in seven
games (Celtics in 1981, Sixers in '82).
They've faced off 11 times since the Syracuse Nationals became
the Sixers in 1963, with the Celtics going 7-4.
Prediction: Celtics in 7.
Tom Moore, 215-345-3127; email, tmoore@phillyBurbs.com;
Twitter, @tmoorepburbs
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