For the third time in this series, the rebound-averse Celtics beat the Sixers on the glass Wednesday. They filled another typical hole in their attack by getting to the foul line and converting their opportunities at the stripe. Plus, they defended well in almost every conceivable area for nearly the whole game.
Such statistics make for nice teaching points for a coach, but as Celtics head coach Doc Rivers loves to say, the NBA is above all a make-miss league. No matter how well the Celtics fared in those other areas Wednesday, the bottom line was that when they took shots, they often missed.
Oh man, did they miss.
The Celtics shot a ghastly 26-for-78 from the field in the 82-75 loss in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, assuring a Game 7 on Saturday in Boston. Their final field goal percentage was a bump up from their horrid shooting mark for most of the game. They spent portions of the game shooting below 30 percent before a fourth quarter that, by comparison to the first three quarters, featured blistering 39 percent shooting on the part of the Celtics.
"That's basketball," said Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo, who shot 4-for-14 and handed out six assists, only the second time this postseason that he has been held to single-digits in that statistic. "Give them credit. We got a lot of open looks in the first half that we wanted. We shot [31 percent] in the first half and we were still up three, so it was a matter of us getting stops. Our defense can get better, but we do have to make shots."
The Celtics' 33.3 field goal percentage was their lowest in a playoff game since Game 4 of the 2008 Eastern Conference Finals against the Detroit Pistons. They recorded only 14 assists to the Sixers' 22, marking the first time in the playoffs that the Sixers have recorded more assists than their opponent. Kevin Garnett finished 9-for-20 for the game but was only 5-for-14 entering the fourth quarter. Brandon Bass missed all except two of his 12 shots, two nights after putting up a career-high 27 points in Boston.
The Sixers did not exactly put on a clinic, either. They hit only one of their nine 3-point shots and surrendered 14 offensive rebounds, leading to a 14-6 advantage for the Celtics in second-chance points. Philadelphia was 11-for-20 from the free throw line through three quarters and was unable to pull away from the Celtics until late in the third quarter. That quarter once again was the key to the game, as Philadelphia outscored the Celtics 27-20 over those 12 minutes.
The sloppiness, which produced 69 total points before halftime, was a product of both the Celtics' and Sixers' efforts.
"I think they muddied it up with their defense and then we muddied it up with our offense," Rivers said. "It was a muddy game. Nobody ran away from anybody offensively. Our defense was sound for the most part. Down the stretch, I thought we couldn't get stops. The third quarter was huge, again, in this series."
Again, the Celtics let an opportunity here to take control of this series get away. They squandered an 18-point lead in Game 4 that would have given them a 3-1 advantage in the series, and a win Wednesday would have assured them at least two days before the opening game of the next round.
Instead, the Celtics are headed to a decisive Game 7 and have given the underdog Sixers a shot. The Celtics can only hope the Sixers misfire on that shot as badly as the Celtics misfired on most of theirs Wednesday.
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