The Philadelphia 76ers have retired from the playoffs after five games against the Boston Celtics. The young team failed several times because of itself. So what happens in Philly? There’s a summer ahead for the Sixers. SPOX answers the most important questions.
One of the biggest feel-good stories of the season came to an end on Thursday night. After the Sixers won the last 16 games of the Regular Season and also the Miami Heat, not to be underestimated, were sovereign in five games, now against injured Boston Celtics final station.
Despite the lack of a home advantage, the Sixers went into the series with the goblins as a slight favourite, but were quickly trailing 0-3. This sounds clearer in retrospect than it ultimately was. In game 2, Philly dominated the first 20 minutes of the game, but then let Celtics take the butter off his bread.
Also in the first home game there was a victory, but Marco Belinelli stood with his foot on the triple line, so that the long two only hoisted the Sixers into extra time, in which the Celtics kept the upper hand. It turned out to be a bad omen that one of the staff nevertheless rained confetti onto the field after the end of the regular season for the Sixers’ alleged victory. In game 4 the sweep could still be prevented, but in Boston Head Coach Brett Brown’s team had to admit defeat in another close game.
Small things made the difference and there was the big advantage of the Celtics, who made hardly any defensive mistakes. Ben Simmons had a hard time after a great series against Miami because Celtics coach Stevens shamelessly exploited the Australian’s litter allergy. The rookie seldom found his way to the basket because Philly could not develop an antidote against the many switches of the Celtics and the full packing of the zone.
Similar problems also had Joel Embiid, who had a physically almost equal opponent with Baynes. The Cameroonian acted in the post sometimes too violently and too error-prone. The action in the last seconds of game 5 was symbolic, when he could not score against Baynes in the best position and Terry Rozier stole the ball from the center.
Besides, it didn’t help that the Sixers stayed cold for almost the entire series. After Philly had scored 36 percent from a distance in the first round, it was only 30 percent against the best defense in the league. Plan B was missing because Boston knew how to control Embiid in the post office and to guard the shooters well. What was striking was that Philly rarely played pick’n’roll with Simmons and Embiid, a move that was incredibly efficient.
At the same time, Boston was under great pressure to put the Sixers in unpleasant situations. Already in the Regular Season the Brown squad was susceptible to ball losses, the Celtics used this circumstance in the crunchtime (games 3 and 5) mercilessly.
Page 1: What happened?
Page 2: How do you rate the Sixers season?
Page 3: What happens next with Markelle Fultz?
Page 4: Is Brett Brown the right coach for the Sixers?
Page 5: What can the Sixers do in the offseason?