Boston Strangles Sixers 102-78

Posted by Jeff Sack under NBA Game Recap

This was going to be the season that the Philadelphia 76ers joined the elite in the NBA Eastern Conference. After giving the Detroit Pistons all they could handle before losing in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, they had signed Elton Brand to a free agent deal over the Summer. Bringing in a player at the power forward position who averages a double-double would be just the ticket to put the Sixers in the upper tier of teams joining NBA Champions the Boston Celtics and the new look Cleveland Cavaliers on top of the East.

So far the Sixers can’t even get to .500 as they were humiliated by the Celtics Friday 102-78, in a game that was far more one sided than the final score indicates. Ray Allen led the Boston attack as the team shot 51.6% (39-76) from the floor for the game. The fans at the “New Garden” celebrated from beginning to end.

When you show no cohesion on offense, and don’t play particularly well defensively, you will end up with a lot of losses at the end of an NBA season. That pretty much describes the way that Philadelphia played Friday night. The “Green Team” would end the first quarter on top by a score of 22-16. Boston started out the second quarter scoring the first 11 points pushing the advantage to 33-16 with 8:30 left in the period. The Celtics went to the locker room at the half leading 46-28. Boston put the game away by the end of the third quarter as they were up 73-47 heading into the fourth. Philadelphia never came close to being competitive in the game’s final 12 minutes.

Ray Allen led all players with 23 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, in the Boston victory. Kevin Garnett scored 16 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, Tony Allen came off the bench, and had 10 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal. Leon Powe also added 10 points off the bench, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block.

Philadelphia got 18 points from Elton Brand along with 8 rebounds, to lead the team. Louis Williams had a good game off the bench with 15 points, 6 assists, 3 steals, 1 rebound, Andre Miller added 12 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal. Marreese Speights came off the bench and scored 12 points, 6 rebounds. Boston improves to 15-2, while Philadelphia falls to 7-9.

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