The Sixers Gave The Celtics "A Big Dose Of D" Last Night
Tim Nwachukwu. Getty Images.Now I don't ever pretend to be some hoops expert. Not a big basketball guy, to be perfectly honest. But even I can tell you that when you go back and look at why the Sixers vs Celtics rivalry has been so one-sided in recent history, it's because the Sixers can't consistently find their rhythm on offense against Boston, and then they can never come up with enough stops to give themselves a chance to get back into a game. If the offense isn't working, you need to make up for it defensively, and vice-versa. The Sixers just never seem to be able to get that shutdown defensive effort against the Celtics. Whether that's due to coaching or personnel or whatever may be the case, the Sixers are only ever able to beat the Celtics when their offense gets the job done.
Until last night, when they finally decided to smack the Celtics in the face with their ferocious D.
I believe this is where the younger generation would come in and say "pause".
I'm so torn on whether I think Coach knows what he's doing here or not. Part of me thinks this greasy old bastards knows exactly what's going on, and knows he has carte blanche to say whatever he wants just like any other dirty old grandpa. But another part of me thinks he was just so jazzed up by that performance that "a big dose of D" came naturally to him. Surprised he didn't follow it up with any load management talk. How you manage your loads is always a vital step to the process of giving the D.
Anyway, the Sixers finally got rid of Doc Rivers and James Harden, and now this team might actually be good.
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Basketball is actually fun to watch when the ball doesn't die in one guy's hands every possession. Who woulda thought.