Collins wants his 76ers to get greedy

By John N. Mitchell, Inquirer Staff Writer

Posted: May 26, 2012

There is mutual admiration by coaches Doug Collins and Doc Rivers when talking about each other's point guard.

Long before the Eastern Conference semifinal series between the 76ers and the Celtics reached win-or-go-home status - the winner will be determined in Saturday's Game 7 at Boston - Collins recognized that Boston's Rajon Rondo was capable of controlling not only the tempo of games but the series outcome as well.

And Rivers, at the start of the series, had this to say about Jrue Holiday, the Sixers' third-year guard.

"He's a great young player who is going to be one of the better point guards in the league for years," said Rivers, who, like Collins, had a long NBA career as a guard.

But where Rondo has teammates such as Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce - and Ray Allen when he's healthy - to take up the scoring slack, Holiday doesn't have similar options.

That's why Collins again will look for Holiday to be in attack mode Saturday. In Wednesday's Game 6, an 82-75 victory in which the Sixers held the Celtics to just 33 percent shooting, Holiday led the Sixers with 20 points. It marked the third time this postseason that Holiday has scored 20 or more points, and in those games the Sixers are 3-0.

In the previous five games in the series, Holiday, after averaging better than 18 points in the Sixers' series victory over Chicago, was averaging just 12.4 points per game.

Also against Chicago, Holiday didn't have the defensive responsibility of guarding Derrick Rose once the 2010-11 MVP suffered a torn knee ligament. Defending C.J. Watson or John Lucas III was a big step down from battling Rose, and as a result, Holiday got up 94 shots against the Bulls.

Against Boston, Holiday is sharing the defensive assignment of Rondo with Evan Turner and others, and the focus has been more on slowing Rondo than it has been on scoring. As a result, Holiday has taken just 68 shots over the same number of games.

"We know what we have to do against him," Holiday, who did not speak to the media after Game 6, said earlier in the week. "But I have to still be aggressive and look to score."

Along with scoring 20 points Wednesday, Holiday handed out six assists. His defense against Rondo helped the Sixers limit a player who entered the game averaging 14.2 points and 14.6 assists to nine points and six assists. Rondo, who also committed four turnovers, shot just 4 for 14 from the floor.

A similar performance out of Rondo on Saturday, though not likely - coupled with a good game by Holiday in which he is scoring - could be the recipe the Sixers need to reach the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2001.

No one expected the Sixers to reach this point, first knocking off the top-seeded team in the Eastern Conference and then pushing the Celtics, with their future Hall of Fame players, to a Game 7.

However, Collins, who gave the players off on Thursday, is not satisfied with just reaching this point. And he won't let his players feel the same way, either.

"No, I'm not going to give them that out," Collins said Wednesday. "No, I want more. We're going to get greedy and we want more."

Holiday by the Numbers

Here is how 76ers guard Jrue Holiday has fared during the six games against the Boston Celtics. Notice how the Sixers have won when Holiday has played well:

Game 1, Celtics win, 92-91