SPORTS
May 25, 2012 | By Marcus Hayes, Daily News Columnist
ELTON BRAND strode through the corridors of TD Garden dressed like a stockbroker, as amiable as a preacher. A security guard congratulated Brand on his exceptional effort in a losing cause. "Thanks," said Brand. "See you Saturday. " It was Monday. The Sixers had just lost Game 5. Brand was, in effect, assuring a Sixers win in Game 6 on Wednesday night. A return to Boston for a Game 7. Which meant that he would be a Sixer for one more game. Maybe more.
SPORTS
May 25, 2012
GAME 6 RECAP Score: Sixers 82, Celtics 75 What happened: For the sixth straight game, it came down to the third quarter. The Sixers, behind the rejuvenated play of Elton Brand, held the Celtics without a field for the first 5:37 of the quarter (0-for-7) and forced Boston into five turnovers. Brand, who played 33 minutes, began the quarter by blocking Game 5 hero's Brandon Bass' shot and would score six points of his own. The Sixers, meanwhile, hit six out of nine shots, didn't commit a turnover and turned a 36-33 deficit into a 46-43 lead.
SPORTS
May 25, 2012 | By John N. Mitchell, Inquirer Staff Writer
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.
SPORTS
May 25, 2012 | By Marc Narducci, Inquirer Staff Writer
PRINCETON - Lauren Cheney went through a gamut of emotions leading up to the U.S. women's soccer journey in the 2008 Olympics. Cheney went from initially being spurned, to being added to the team at the last minute, to competing in the final three games, including the 1-0 win over Brazil that earned the U.S. the Olympic gold medal in Beijing. First named as an alternate, she was added to the 2008 team when Abby Wambach broke her leg. "It was hard, initially, not to make the team - but to be back on the team was bittersweet because I didn't want Abby to get injured," Cheney said after a recent U.S. women's national team practice at Princeton University.
SPORTS
May 24, 2012 | By Ed Barkowitz, Daily News Staff Writer
WATCHING the video from the Sixers' Game 5 loss on Monday night was going to be unpleasant, like Snooki trying to portray Margaret Thatcher instead of Meryl Streep. So Sixers coach Doug Collins, in order to soften the blow and change the negative vibe, went to the archives and also popped in footage from when the Sixers beat the Celtics in the 1982 Eastern Conference finals. The rivalry with the Celtics was at its best when Wilt Chamberlain traded elbows with Bill Russell in the 1960s, first as a Warrior and later as a Sixer.
SPORTS
May 24, 2012 | By Marcus Hayes, Daily News Columnist
IT COULDN'T last. Not for the Sixers. The beauty of the game played by both teams Monday lay in the abandon with which each passed and caught and shot the basketball. The Sixers lost the game when they lost their abandon. The season will be lost Wednesday night if they don't find that freedom again. The Celtics won Game 5 because they were refreshed, yes, but also because they were confident in their capabilities. Similarly, the Sixers controlled the first portion of the contest because they played without a thought of failure.
SPORTS
May 24, 2012 | By Ed Barkowitz, Daily News Staff Writer
Watching the video from the 76ers' Game 5 loss to Boston on Monday night in the Eastern Conference semifinals was going to be unpleasant - like Snooki, instead of Meryl Streep, trying to portray Margaret Thatcher. So Sixers coach Doug Collins, hoping to soften the blow and change the negative vibe, went to the archives and also popped in footage from when the Sixers beat the Celtics in the 1982 conference finals. The rivalry with Boston was at its best when Wilt Chamberlain traded elbows with Bill Russell in the 1960s, first as a Warrior and later as a Sixer.
SPORTS
May 23, 2012 | BY DAN GERINGER
Long before this year's birth of the Crazy Fans Section, Alan Horwitz was a lone-wolf Sixers fanatic — sitting, standing, kneeling, jumping, fist-bumping at the end of the 76ers bench, exchanging death stares with Kobe Bryant, hovering physically closer to Coach Doug Collins than some of the reserves. "I'm in the huddles, hearing what the next play is — it's like a dream come true," said Horwitz, chairman of Campus Apartments, which develops student housing in 26 states. "I grew up sitting in the Convention Hall rafters, watching Wilt Chamberlain, and now I'm so close, it's like I'm the sixth man on the team.
SPORTS
May 22, 2012 | By Marcus Hayes, Daily News Columnist
ALL THIS rest might kill the Sixers. Tied at 2 in their Eastern Conference semifinal, the Celtics own homecourt advantage. Both Celtics home games come off 2 days of rest. They had Saturday and Sunday off, at home, with balmy temperatures and light breeze. That's nectar for the elderly. Three of their top seven players rank in the top 14 in games played among active players: Kevin Garnett (No. 2), Ray Allen (7) and Paul Pierce (14). All three rank in the top 15 of playoff games played by active players.
SPORTS
May 21, 2012 | By John N. Mitchell, Inquirer Staff Writer
Because they had just eliminated a team whom they had put in the untenable position of being down 3-1 in a best-of-seven series, the Sixers knew this was not where they wanted to be heading into Boston for Game 5 of their semifinal series against the Celtics. Only eight times in NBA history has a team rallied from a 3-1 deficit to come back to win a playoff series, something the Sixers heard repeated over and over again after going up 3-1 against Chicago in the first round. And had the Sixers not overcome a huge third-quarter deficit with an unbelievable rally on Friday, this is where they would find themselves.