Celtics-76ers Preview

By DAN GELSTON
Posted May 17 2012 5:57PM

PHILADELPHIA (AP) Kevin Garnett turns 36 on Saturday, a youthful age for any man, except for the rare ones with nearly 55,000 punishing minutes absorbed on an NBA floor.

Garnett knows all the ageist labels attached to the Boston Celtics. How they're called The Over The Hill Gang, and the wisecracks about flashing AARP cards before they check into a game, and how each crucial postseason game raises questions about The Big Three's last hurrah.

The Celtics have known since training camp a championship run centered around Garnett, 36-year-old Ray Allen, and 34-year-old Paul Pierce was on its last legs.

Aging legs, yes.

But far from finished.

Garnett displayed dominant proof in Boston's Game 3 rout against the Philadelphia 76ers. He scored 27 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to help the Celtics snare a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Sixers under-25 crew had no way to slow down Garnett.

He made 12 of 17 shots in Game 3 and is shooting 63 percent overall in the series.

Let others get nostalgic for the stretch run of Boston's terrific trio. Garnett only cares about winning the next game, the next series, and another championship to pair with the one The Big Three clinched in 2008.

"I'm focused on the playoffs," Garnett said Thursday. "I haven't given much thought to it. I'm definitely aware of it. We know what the possibilities are. But at this point, right now, it's the playoffs."

Garnett heard a few screams of "We love you, Kevin!" from passing fans as he answered questions alongside Pierce outside the Four Seasons Hotel.

The chants should be more antagonistic in Game 4 Friday in Philadelphia.

Garnett will tune them out the way he's zoned out the light attempts at defense the Sixers have thrown at him. Even at 35 (or 36), Garnett is still more mobile than Philadelphia's frontcourt combo of Spencer Hawes and Elton Brand. Lavoy Allen's foul troubles have limited his guarding Garnett.

"You have to do a better job early," Sixers coach Doug Collins said. "You can't let him get such deep position. You can't let him run underneath the rim, turn and face the basket. You have to meet him at the free throw line."

Pierce was slowed by an MCL injury in his left knee, until a gutsy 24-point, 12-rebound outing in Game 3. Allen scored only three points and has been secure enough in letting Garnett, Pierce and Rajon Rondo handle the scoring load that he turned down KG's offer to get him more touches.

Garnett told Allen: "We've got to do whatever we can to get you open."

"I looked at him and said, `Kevin, you're the guy getting shots. You're the guy that's scoring. We just won by 20. I don't need to, for the sake of my ego, do anything like that. We just keep doing what we're doing. If they keep guarding us this way, then you've got to keep doing what you're doing."'

Garnett and Allen are free agents at the end of the season. A championship run that seemed blocked by young-gun All-Stars eased up with Chicago out of the picture. The Miami Heat are without Chris Bosh indefinitely. And the Sixers showed in Game 3 how vulnerable they are when a top team is clicking.

Pierce realizes the sense of urgency to win a championship with the trio playing their final games together. They want to make it last.

"We've realized that from Day 1. I think pretty much the last couple of years we've been feeling like that," Pierce said. "But the influence is to try and win another championship, regardless of if this is going to be our last time together. Who knows what the future is going to hold for all of us?"

The Sixers, meanwhile, are trying to find a way to slow down the old guys.

They looked totally lost after the first quarter. The Sixers weren't hitting shots and the defense couldn't bail them out with key stops. Starters Brand, Hawes and Evan Turner combined for only 11 points.

"It was a little embarrassing because you don't want to put on a showing like that, and definitely at home," guard Jrue Holiday said. "At the same time, it's motivation to not do it again."

Collins showed the Sixers game film from the first half on Thursday and the reviews weren't pretty. What they saw was a team that never had a grip on their defensive assignments. The Sixers offered little resistance once Garnett got hot in the second quarter (13 points) with a flurry of 10- to 16-foot fadeaways and open jumpers.

"I never considered them old," Collins said. "They sure looked pretty young to me. Garnett's playing great."

Just how the Celtics like it.

"I don't know if I'm surprised. It's in him," coach Doc Rivers said. "He's feeling pretty good. he's at a great place mentally. That's always nice. I think our guys understand how important he is to our team. He understands that as well. It's just great. I'm happy for him."

76ers stun Celtics 92-83 in Game 4 to even series

By DAN GELSTON
Posted May 19 2012 12:53AM

PHILADELPHIA (AP) Andre Iguodala squared up for a 3-pointer from the wing like he had hundreds of times in his career.

This shot was different from all the others.

Iguodala continued a postseason where his final numbers don't pop on the box score, but the buckets are as pivotal as they get. He snapped a tie game with five straight points in the final 90 seconds to help the Philadelphia 76ers storm back from 18 points down in the third quarter and stun the Boston Celtics 92-83 on Friday night in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The young Sixers were a team reborn in the second half and played like a squad that refused to roll over for the championship-tested Celtics.

"I don't even know where to start," Philadelphia coach Doug Collins said. "Our guys are pretty amazing. They really are."

Iguodala certainly has been.

One of the more maligned athletes in recent Philadelphia history, he's changing his reputation one fourth-quarter point at a time.

Iguodala put the Sixers ahead 85-83 with a step-back jumper over a flailing Ray Allen with 1:22 left. Then he took the feed from a driving Williams and buried a 3-pointer for a five-point lead.

Game over.

"That's not the first time he found me in that same exact spot," Iguodala said. "Just not as big a platform as it was tonight. But it worked out for us."

With the huge comeback, the Sixers tied the series at 2-2 and guaranteed a return home for one more game.

Game 5 is Monday in Boston.

They can thank Iguodala, Lou Williams, Evan Turner and Lavoy Allen for an unforgettable second half that left the Celtics purely dazed following an outcome that hardly seemed possible when Boston led 14-0 to start the game.

Iguodala and Turner scored 16 points. Williams scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half. Allen grabbed 10 rebounds.

Kevin Garnett had his first miserable outing - finishing with nine points - in an otherwise monster series. With Garnett in a funk, so were the Celtics.

Garnett, who turns 36 on Saturday, missed nine of 12 shots. He had little help from an offense that sputtered after the sizzling start. Paul Pierce scored 24 points and Rajon Rondo had 15 points and 15 assists.

"We had a team down and we didn't finish them off," Garnett said. "It's pretty disappointing. So, we have to go back home. They did what they needed to do to protect their home court, now we have to go do the same thing."

The Sixers just kept attacking, turning a first half of airballs, botched dunks and sloppy defense into a full-blown display of near-flawless basketball.

Thaddeus Young's thunderous slam tied the game at 63 in the middle of the fourth. And when Jodie Meeks drained a 3-pointer on the Sixers' next trip down the court for Philadelphia's first lead a packed crowd of 20,411 fans stomped their feet and unleashed two hours of pent-up jubilation.

Williams hounded Pierce and forced a turnover, fed the ball to a streaking Turner for a dunk and put the lead at 68-65.

It was that kind of hustle that brought the Sixers back.

After Garnett blocked Allen's shot, Young snagged the ball out of the air and scored to make it 74-all.

"In the second half, they came out and used the energy of their crowd, and we just didn't respond," Pierce said.

Game 4 came down to young legs, fresh enthusiasm and untested big-game experience vs. aging, championship-tested stars fighting for another title.

Give the edge to the Sixers.

Iguodala has become a fan favorite with a clutch postseason. He sank the winning free throws in Game 6 to finish off the top-seeded Chicago Bulls in the first round.

And it was Iguodala who finished off the Celtics in Game 4.

The Celtics look primed for a blowout victory after the first 10 minutes of the game. They hold out hope a trip back to Boston can make them forget about this collapse.

"I thought we lost the composure, and once we did, we never really returned to playing basketball the way we played in the first half," coach Doc Rivers said. "They pressure. They took us out of a lot of stuff."

Philadelphia CEO Adam Aron tweeted at the break, "This will have to be one of the best come backs ever for the (at)Sixers."

Down 15 at the half, the under-25 Sixers found their spark, their legs and their shooting touch to crank up the pressure on the Celtics.

Williams hit a 3, Iguodala hit a 3, and Williams converted a three-point play to make it 58-54. Williams stood on the free-throw line with the widest smile of anyone in the building and calmly sank the deficit-slicing free throw.

Meeks, a starter-turned-sub, stole an errant pass and scored his first bucket of the game to make it 63-59 at the end of the quarter.

The 76ers' 10 baskets in the third were one more than their total for the entire half and their 28 points were three shy off their halftime total.

"We're just going to keep fighting," Collins said. "That's what we do."

The Sixers had vowed they would be a more determined team after the veteran Celtics dismantled and demoralized them on their home court in Game 3.

The Sixers said after the 16-point loss they would return more focused to prevent another hot Celtics' start that took them out of the game and sucked the atmosphere out of the Wells Fargo Center.

The Celtics squashed that attitude moments after the opening tip before thousands of fans had taken their seats.

Pierce and Avery Bradley hit 3-pointers, Garnett hit a pull-up 20-footer and the Celtics raced to a 14-0 lead only 3 1/2 minutes into the game.

The Sixers truly couldn't find their footing. Young bounced the ball off his sneaker on a drive down the lane, and Pierce converted on the other end for an 18-3 lead.

The Celtics could never find that extra scoring boost to truly put away the Sixers. Rondo, Garnett and Allen all had quiet first 24 minutes and the Celtics let the lead drop to seven.

Rondo scored an uncontested bucket coming out of a timeout to end the half and put the Celtics up 46-31.

"That was probably the worst we could shoot," Iguodala said. "They were playing as good as they could play and we were shooting poorly."

Boy, did it ever work out in the end.

Notes: The 76ers are 4-1 at home in the postseason. ... The Sixers are 3-3 this postseason trailing by double-digits after a 5-23 mark in the regular season. ... The Sixers outscored Boston 34-26 in the paint.

Notebook: Sixers 92, Celtics 83

Posted Saturday May 19, 2012 12:10AM

By Andy Jasner, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: What an improbable comeback. After shooting 23.1 percent in the first half and trailing 46-31, the Philadelphia 76ers found a way to rally and wound up defeating the Boston Celtics 92-83 Friday night at the Wells Fargo Center. The Sixers evened the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals at 2-2. Andre Iguodala and Evan Turner scored 16 points each while Lou Williams added 15. The Sixers trailed by as many as 18 in the second half.

Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 24 points while Rajon Rondo and Brandon Bass added 15 apiece. Kevin Garnett was held to just nine though he did sweep 11 rebounds.

QUOTABLE: "Shots just weren't falling. We continued to stay with it, to stay with it and we got going in the second half. We just kept fighting like we have all season."
-- Sixers forward Elton Brand.

THE STAT: After shooting an abysmal 9-for-39 in the first half, the Sixers were 22-for-43 in the second half.

TURNING POINT: After Rondo tied the game at 83, Iguodala scored five straight points -- a jump shot and a 3-pointer -- to help seal the victory.

HOT: Pierce was 8-for-13 from the field and 4-for-4 from the free throw line.

NOT: Turner missed 17 of his 22 shots but was 6-for-9 from the free throw line. He stayed aggressive and didn't seem deterred by the off night.

QUOTABLE II: "I thought, for the most part, we played decent defense. We just didn't do it well enough in the last four or five minutes."
-- Boston forward Garnett.

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: Rondo had 15 points, 15 assists, four rebounds and two steals. Just another typical stellar night for Boston's point guard.

INSIDE THE ARENA: The Sixers fans waved their rally towels once again, and the overall atmosphere was electric inside the Wells Fargo Center. Boxer Bernard Hopkins attended the game along with a number of Philadelphia Eagles, including star running back LeSean McCoy.

QUOTABLE III: "Nothing was going right in the first half. We talked at halftime about getting stops and making some shots on offense. I thought once we got it going, we started to gain some confidence."
-- Williams.

GOOD MOVE: Sixers head coach Doug Collins gave extended minutes to rookie Lavoy Allen. He played 32 minutes, 43 seconds and frustrated Garnett, especially in the low post. Collins took advantage of the matchup and it paid off.

BAD MOVE: Pierce was shooting the ball well and probably should have had at least five more shots. That could have been the difference.

QUOTABLE IV: "We have to give them credit. They took us out of our offense.
-- Celtics guard Keyon Dooling.

ROOKIE WATCH: Boston guard E'Twaun Moore and center Greg Stiemsma didn't play. For the Sixers, Allen had eight points and 10 rebounds while Nikola Vucevic wasn't inserted into the game.

NOTABLE: Garnett was whistled for a technical foul with 9:46 remaining in the third for throwing an elbow at Iguodala. Three seconds later, Brand also received a technical. In that feisty third, Spencer Hawes and Ryan Hollins received double technicals ... The Sixers outrebounded Boston 52-38. ... Garnett had seven of Boston's 17 turnovers. ... Williams led the Sixers with a playoff career-high eight assists. He had seven assists in the first three games combined. ... Rondo, on the Sixers: "They're professionals. They're young. They're confident." ... Garnett shot 3-for-12 from the field, matching his lowest field goal percentage in a playoff game with 12 or more shots. Garnett shot 5-for-20 for Minnesota against Portland in Game 4 of the first round of the 2000 playoffs. He entered this game shooting 63.3 percent in the series. ... The Sixers outscored Boston 34-26 in points in the paint. The Celtics had 50 points in the paint in their 16-point victory in Game 3.

NEXT: Game 5 @ Boston, Monday, TBD, Game 6 vs. Boston, May 23, TBD, Game 7 @ Boston, May 26, TBD.

• Celtics: Johnson, Williams
• 76ers: Brackins

• Celtics: Garnett, Hollins
• 76ers: Brand, Hawes

• Lead Changes: 7
• Times Tied: 8

• Arena: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA
• Officials: #48 Scott Foster, #55 Bill Kennedy, #22 Bill Spooner
• Attendance: 20411
• Duration: 2:38