One Word for how the Sixers Played Last Night: Ouch

Lost in all the commotion about the Phillies trying to make a miracle World Series comeback is the fact that the Flyers and Sixers are still playing. While I'm not going to get into the Flyers game from Monday, save for the notion that they played very well against a poor Tampa Bay team, the Sixers took on the Boston Celtics last night. After taking out the Knicks and dropping 141 points in four and a half quarters, the Sixers went up against the best defensive team in the NBA...and put up a little more than half of that amount. Basically, the Celtics came out and did what they have done to the other four teams they've played this season and dismantled the Sixers in a 105-74 beatdown.

Basically, the Celtics took away the inside game of the Sixers, and Philadelphia responded by shooting a robust 36.3% for the game with just one three pointer. In comparison, Rasheed Wallace made six threes by himself off the Boston bench, as the Celtics nailed 14 three pointers to make this game an embarrassing runaway. The Sixers aren't going to be able to beat many NBA teams with that output, let alone the Boston Celtics, who are on everyone's short list this year to make it to the NBA Finals.

To make things even worse, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett didn't even play that well. Allen finished with just five points on 2 of 8 shooting, thanks to solid defense by Andre Iguodala, and Garnett had just three points in 23 minutes. However, when the Sixers respond by shooting as poorly as they did, those two can have an off night and the Celtics can still win by 31 points. That's how badly the Sixers played last night. This team couldn't do anything right last night, as the bench only managed 24 points. Again, Rasheed Wallace scored 20 points off the bench by himself for Boston. If you add that to Eddie House's 12 points, and Shelden Williams' 11, the Celtics' bench almost doubled up Philadelphia's with just those three players.

Not everything was horrible last night, though. Andre Iguodala had a solid, if unspectacular, game, scoring 17 points and keeping Ray Allen from nailing anything at all. He seemed to be the only one that could even think about getting through Boston's defense, and when he did, he set up his teammates for baskets, only to have them miss. That's what kind of a night it was for the Sixers. It certainly wasn't anything to write home about or remember in any way, shape or form.

Fortunately, the Sixers don't play the Celtics every night of the year. If they did, there might be some trouble. So far this season, the guys have shown that they're right smack dab in the middle when it comes to talent in the Eastern Conference. Against teams like the Bucks and Knicks, they can play well, but against top level teams, like the Magic and Celtics, they're quickly knocked back down to earth. It's that balance that they're going to have to find as the season goes along to move slightly up the talent ladder in the East to the point where maybe they can put a scare into a Boston, Cleveland or Orlando come April. There's still a long way to go, though.