After scoring 17 total in the first four games of this series, the “Ol’ Skool Chevy” put up an electric performance last night that unfortunately went to waste.  EB came out aggressive and looking for his shot.  The result was a 6-7 start on FGAs. He played with energy and passion and it seemed to catch on with the rest of the team (until the 3rd Q).  He still had a ton of trouble guarding KG and that caused some issues for the Sixers.

Just when you thought he had become a big game player, Dre goes out and lays an egg like this one.  But the thunderous dunk he had in traffic during the 2nd Q will certainly make SC.

10 & 5 is a serviceable night from Hawes, but if you watched this game closely, you know Hawes was a roller coaster on offense last night and could have had a bigger impact.  One moment he’s hitting a J, the next he’s bricking a bunny.  On one trip he puts the ball on the floor and drives to the rim for a nice lay-in.  Two possessions later he throws the ball away.  Such a frustrating game from Spence.  Of course, he also has to do a better job with KG on the defensive end if the Sixers are to win this series.

Even though his shooting touch still seems to be off, a solid night from Turner.  We love that he posted up Allen on several occasions for buckets and routinely drove the ball to the rack against the C’s.  The Sixers should have gone to ET vs. Allen more in the desperate 3rd Q.  He did struggle to contain Rondo in that 3rd Q, but what Sixer didn’t struggle in that stanza?

A great first half — 10 & 5 — including an ice water in the veins 3PM with Ray Allen all over him is overshadowed by the disappearing act ‘The Jruth” pulled in the 2nd half.  Unfortunately hot starts and weak finishes have been a trend for Jrue in this series.

One game after carrying this team to a W, Louis craps the bead in Boston.

After excellent performances in Game 3 and Game 4, we thought Thad had found his game.  We were wrong. His two TOs during the game breaking stretch of the 3rd Q were simply brutal for the Sixers.

So Collins doesn’t want to disrespect Brand by starting Lavoy in his place.  Does the same hold for Hawes?  The kid has been the steadiest player on the Sixers in this series.  FYI…As soon as KG got rolling in the 2nd Q I would have put Lavoy back in the game — even with his 2 fouls.

Again, we know there is a shoulder issue and that Boston is presents serious match-up issues for the “Ol’ Skool Chevy”, but EB looks cooked (He has 17 pts. & 11 rebs total in his last 4 gms.).  Still his defense on KG was much better last night then has been during the first three game sof this series.  For the rest of this series, we basically just need him to go out there, beat the crap out of KG in the 1st Q and use up 5 fouls.

The second half heroics were awesome and no doubt he was a big part of the comeback, but let’s not forget that Dre was a non-factor for a large portion of this game.  Dre didn’t attempt a FG until the 5:43 mark of the 1st Q and went 0-4 in the 1st half.  He also bricked several FTs and blew a dunk before halftime.  Luckily he shook off all that ugliness and had a huge second half (including clutch jumpers) that helped push the Sixers to the W.

Can we just start Lavoy Allen and stop this craziness?

Obviously 5-22 shooting as well as 3 missed FTs is not good.  And to say that @thekidet was forcing things last night is an understatement.  Still we liked a lot of things that we saw from Turner in Game 4.  First and foremost, he showed some moxy last night.  He got into two dust ups with Boston players and refused to back down — the Sixers need that edginess.  Turner also continually drove the ball to the cup, played tenacious defense and cleaned the glass.  If a few more shots could have gone in for ET, he would have had a monster night.

The Jruth was plagued by foul trouble all night and that limited his effectiveness after a fast start (10 pts. in 1st half).  He still had a decent game, but Collins (& Jrue) needs to figure out a way to turn these fast starts by Jrue into a huge game.  So far in this series he seems to be willing to take a back seat in the second half.

Welcome to the party Louis!  This is the LW we need in this series.  He scored 13 of his 15 points in the 2nd half and honestly was the key to getting the Sixers back in the game.  He hit the C’s with a series of AND1′s that really turned the momentum in this game.  As a bonus he threw in some nice dimes and a few minutes of great defense.

Glad to have you back Thad.  A second straight great game from #21, but this one was more about heart and hustle then filling up the scoring column up.  His energy in the 2nd half clearly bothered Boston and pushed the Sixers in their comeback effort.  His dime to Lavoyin the 4th was incredible and he also had a big block on Rondo in the Q.

That’s what we need from Capt. Streaky — limited minutes and positive contributions. (A huge 3-ball once in a while is nice as well.)

His defense on KG alone was enough to earn him the “A”.  The fact that he also grabbed 10 boards is enough for us to overlook the 4-10 shooting.

As he has been too often this postseason, Brand was a non-factor.  Well, maybe non-factor is too charitable: he had an impact on the game, but it was one that favored Boston.

Iguodala, after starting the game promisingly with a dunk in transition, was similarly impotent in the face of the Celtics attack.  If I were a guy who was facing an aging player with an MCL that was string cheese, I would probably challenge him defensively so I could 1.) get easy points and 2.) tire him our so he was less of a threat on the other end. Iguodala looked at this situation and decided, “I think I’ll take just six shots.”  The wounded Pierce outscored him 24-10.

Entering Game 3, the word on Spencer Hawes was that he had returned to his early season form.  Entering Game 4, the word on Spencer Hawes will be, can he recover from his lousy Game 3?

When the team you’re playing shoots 52 percent, and you take ten shots and hit just one of them, you’re not helping.

Jrue’s pretty final numbers mask the (frustrating, unfortunate) fact that he didn’t do much down the stretch.  In the final three quarters, he managed just five points on 2-of-9 shooting.

Lou, when things were getting out of hand – -which is to say, the second and third quarters — tried valiantly to breath some life into the Sixers.  He hit Thad Young with a well placed lob to, temporarily, shift the momentum, and did it on his own on a later possession when he took a bump and hit a leaner, then the subsequent foul shot.  Not that this made any difference.

*crickets*

After averaging only 6.5 ppg in the postseason entering tonight, Thad had his first breakout.  This is the one real silver lining from a cloudy game: if that can continue to exploit favorable matchups against the Cs, the Sixers still might have a chance here.

Xavier Silas (not pictured here), evidently, was on the floor at one point.  Good for him.

Meeks managed to do some damage in garbage time, turning what was a blowout into what will look, to the casual box score peruser, like just your run-of-the-mill loss,

After a very sound start against KG and Co, both in the game and the series, Lavoy came back down to earth a bit in the stretch run.  That’s okay.  He still looks like he belongs.

Good to see you out there Nic.  It had been a while.