Sixers Seal Their Fate?

With last nights’ loss to the Boston Celtics, the Sixers may have ended their hopes of advancing to a six-seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The Celtics were able to edge the Sixers by a score of 100-98 without the help of Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. Allen was serving a one game suspension for a hard foul against the Cavs, and Garnett has been sidelined with a strained knee since March 25^th. Paul Pierce carried his team to victory with 31 points. The Celtics received major contributions from reserves Tony Allen and Leon Powe who combined for 28 points.

As for the Sixers, Andre Iguodala led the team with 25 points. Second-year forward Thaddues Young returned from injury to contribute 18 points. A win would have allowed to Sixers to take the sixth seed from the Chicago Bulls and put them in a position to play the Orlando Magic in the first round. In order to advance in seeding, Philadelphia must defeat the Cavs tonight and the Bulls have to fall to the Raptors.

The Sixers had several opportunities to seal the deal in this game. They executed a 22-5 run early in the game, but the Celtics were able to close the gap to a 58-50 game by the half. The team responded well to a verbal lashing by Paul Pierce during a timeout in the second half. Down 11 in the fourth quarter Boston went on a rally that included a clutch three-pointer by Stephon Marbury that pulled the team to within three. Marbury would again get into the mix by coming up with a lose ball and dishing it to Mikki Moore for the lead. Boston would never look back. With seconds left on the clock, Philadelphia had one last chance to take the lead. Iguodala unsuccessfully went one-on-one against Paul Pierce as his off balanced floater fell short.

If the Sixers fail to move to the sixth-seed, they will be suiting up against the Boston Celtics once again for the first round of the playoffs. Philadelphia is 0-4 against Boston during the regular season. Boston expects to have Kevin Garnett back for the playoffs, although it is uncertain whether or not he is in game-shape due to having not played in almost a month.