BOSTON–The Philadelphia 76ers had an opportunity staring them right in the face on Sunday. They had a Game 7 on the road against the Boston Celtics and the chance to finally get over the hump in Round 2.
Instead, the Celtics hit them in the mouth in the third quarter and they couldn’t respond. Boston outscored the Sixers 33-10 in the third quarter and that pretty much won them the game as Jayson Tatum took over. The Celtics earned a 112-88 win to eliminate the Sixers on Sunday.
PJ Tucker, who was brought to the Sixers in order to instill that toughness and be able to help them get over the hump, wasn’t happy with what he saw from his teammates.
“It wasn’t enough,” said a somber Tucker after the loss. “It just wasn’t enough. We weren’t very tough. We weren’t very physically tough, emotionally tough. It just wasn’t enough.”
Tucker gave the Sixers a spark with 11 points in the first half, but Joel Embiid and James Harden weren’t able to get into any type of offensive rhythm. The Celtics then hit them with an avalanche and Philadelphia really wasn’t able to find that response.
“It was just a lack of mental toughness from us,” added Tobias Harris. “Going back and forth when we got down six, eight, it was hard to generate that type of pop, that flow to get us back and understand that the game wasn’t too out of reach. Then they just started rattling up the 3s, and transition, the points, the turnovers for us that happened hurt us as well. We gave them too many easy ones.”
The Sixers had a helluva season, but it didn’t matter. They fell in the semifinals for the third consecutive season and for the fifth time in the last six seasons.
Tucker summed up the season in one word: “Average.”
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