The Philadelphia 76ers find themselves down three games to zero in their second-round NBA playoff series with the Boston Celtics after a heartbreaking 101-98 overtime loss in Game 3 on Saturday night.
Philadelphia made countless turnovers and ill-advised decisions down the stretch of Game 3, this on the heels of blowing a 22-point lead in Game 2 at TD Garden.
After the Sixers’ Game 3 loss, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith went on an unhinged rant on “SportsCenter,” in which he ethered Philly coach Brett Brown for costing his team the first three games of the series.
“This is the first time in my professional career coaching, you know covering the NBA, that I’ve seen a coach lose all three games in a playoff series,” Smith said. “Game 1, they were ill-prepared. Game 2, that second quarter you threw the game away by being up 19 with 3:43 left in the first half and you let them go on a run to close it to within five. You call no timeouts, you make no substitutions, you don’t slow the pace, you don’t get the ball inside to Joel Embiid and you don’t sub in anybody like a Markelle Fultz.
“Tonight, Philadelphia, Game 3, turnover prone,” Smith continued. “At the end of regulation, why do you have a shooter in J.J. Redick trying to make a point guard decision? He’s the one who’s supposed to be receiving the ball not looking to make the pass. Why didn’t you get the ball down low to Joel Embiid more? Why is he 17 and 19-feet away from the basket in pick-and-roll situations? Why kind of sense does that make?
“Then, on top of it all, you got overtime and you saw what happened with the inbounds pass. You’ve got five guys on the floor, only one of them is athletic enough to get away from Boston’s defenders. That person would happen to be Ben Simmons, and you go him inbounding the ball. It makes no sense whatsoever.”
Smith finished his rant with a bang.
“When you look at the decisions that were made by the coach, I have never, ever — in 25 years of covering the NBA — seen a coach, in the first three games of a playoff series, blow all three games. That is what happened, and that is why the Philadelphia 76ers are on the brink of elimination, about to get the broomsticks and get swept up out of here.”
Ouch.
