As a Celtics fan, all I can say is well done, Philadelphia, for actually trying. The Philadelphia 76ers made franchise history as they won their first road Game 5 in a tied series to date as they THRASHED a wimpish Celtics team 115-103 to put them a single win away from a Conference Finals appearance.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team be so afraid of another player since Michael Jordan.
The Philadelphia 76ers have taken the dominating 3-2 series lead and now have the opportunity to reach their first Conference Finals appearance since 2001 as they humbled the Celtics 115-103 at TD Garden. And, even though a lot of the blame for how this series has played out should be put on the shoulders of the Celtics players and coaches, I can’t praise the performance of this 76ers team enough.
In the last two games, the 76ers have been utterly sensational in both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball as they not only kept the highest scoring team in the postseason coming into the game (not anymore) to just 109 PTS/GM (115 in GM. 4, 101 in GM. 5), but they also posted back-to-back 115+ PT games (116 in GM. 4, 115 in GM. 5) for the first time all playoffs long.
In fact, the 76ers have posted 5 of their 6 highest scoring games this postseason against the Celtics, and they swept the utterly destroyed Brooklyn Nets in the First Round!
Despite playing on a bum leg, Joel Embiid is showing how dangerous he is as he’s not only averaging 28 PPG, 9 RPG, 2.5 APG against the league’s 5th best defense in the regular season (111.4 PPG against), but he’s also physically scaring the entire Celtics roster.
As I said in the intro, I’ve never seen a team be so afraid of an opposing player since MJ as the Celtics forwards and guards simply won’t drive to the rim when Embiid is on the floor.
Even when they have an open lane to score an easy layup, the likes of Jayson Tatum (26.9 PPG, 10.5 RPG, 5.1 APG, 1.3 BPG), Marcus Smart (16.1 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 5.0 APG, 1.2 SPG), Malcolm Brogdon (14.9 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 3.9 APG), and Derrick White (14.1 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 2.5 APG) are all running up to the rim and then kicking the ball back to the wings on EVERY SINGLE POSSESSION.
It’s infuriating to watch a group of players that not only had the second-best record in all of the NBA last season, but also is the reigning Eastern Conference Champions be so afraid of an opposing player to the point they won’t even test him. They just take highly contested 3-point shots that always miss and wind up in the hands of Embiid as he’s all alone in front of the rim.
I will give credit to Jaylen Brown (25.3 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 3.5 APG) as he’s the only Celtics player with the courage to still attack the rim, and he’s the only one who can walk away from this series with his head held high if the 76ers close it out in Game 6.
But, before we get to that scenario, let me also praise the rest of the 76ers roster for how lethal they were last night.
Led by Embiid (obviously), James Harden (17 PTS, 8 REB, 10 AST), Tyrese Maxey (30 PTS, 7 REB, 3 AST), and Tobias Harris (16 PTS, 11 REB, 1 AST), the 76ers never let their foot off the pedal against the C’s as they shot 50.6% (40-79) from the field, 40.0% (12-30) from the 3-point line, 85.2% (23-27) from the free throw line, and outrebounded 49-36, while they held the Celtics to just 39.8% (33-83) FG shooting, 31.6% (12-38) 3-point shooting, and 73.5% (25-34) shooting from the free throw line.
Simply put, they were just willing to fight harder than the Celtics for practically every single second ball, rebound, rim-drive, free throw, etc. as they held a lead as high as 21 points, multiple 15-17-point leads, led 88-72 at the start of the 4th quarter, and won the game by 12 points.
And, if you’re a Philly fan, that’s really exciting as it shows the playoff demons that has plagued this organization and its biggest stars (such as Embiid and Harden) may finally be put to rest as they can go on to win the team’s first NBA title since Dr. J and Moses Malone swept the Lakers 4-0 in 1983. That is, of course, if they’re able to win Game 6.
I’m not going to go in as hard as I would like to on this Celtics team yet as they have two more games to save their title hopes, and such a rant is deserving of its own article. Still, I have to criticize one player before I wrap this article up: Jayson Tatum.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING, TATUM! ARE YOU TRYING TO LOSE THIS SERIES!?!??!
You can’t be the 4th best player in the league (he came 4th in MVP voting) and be the “heir to Larry Bird” by going 9-20 in Game 4 and 11-27 in Game 5. And these aren’t just mere shooting issues as he choked away the game in Game 4 by taking 15 seconds to waste a game-winning shot attempt in OT, and then he set the tone of Game 5 by missing his first 7 shots.
Along with scoring just 7 points in Game 2 (a game the C’s actually won), Tatum’s play has been one of the key factors into the Celtics collapses against the 76ers so far. Like I said, I’m not going to go in too hard against Tatum as he still has time to show his MVP-level in Games 6 and 7, but his time to shine has to be now.
The Celtics desperately need their franchise superstar to show up or this series is over.
Images Source: Featured Image:
