Beneath the mental fragility that led to the Sixers’ humiliating playoff exit is a gutless, joyless organization that is betraying their devoted fans. Only a scorched-earth rebuild will doSixers fans, answer me this: are you better off today than you were 10 years ago? It’s the same question posed by out-party politicians since time immemorial, but Sunday’s spectacular face-plant against the Boston Celtics that prompted Tuesday’s sacking of head coach Doc Rivers demands a far more wholesale inquest of Philadelphia’s once-proud basketball team. And the picture is not a pleasant one.With a three-games-to-two lead over their archrivals in the Eastern Conference semi-finals – needing one win from two cracks for the team’s first trip to the NBA’s final four in...
The modern-day uptick in team-switching has made for less of the classic rivalries that defined previous eras. But matchups like Zion v Ja and Celtics v Bucks are bursting with promiseThe NBA’s ever-changing nature means that rivalries are fickle. When Philadelphia traded picks with Boston to take Markelle Fultz with the No 1 overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft, and the Celtics selected Jayson Tatum third, the teams’ proximity and prior history had all the makings of a classic. But while Tatum is a perennial All-Star, Fultz soon developed the shooting yips and was quickly shipped to the Magic.The modern-day uptick in team-switching has made for less of the classic rivalries that defined previous eras, such as Magic Johnson’s...
The 41-year-old coach of the undermanned Boston Celtics has emerged as one of the sport’s sharpest minds, but reaching the NBA finals without his two best players would be his best trick yetThe first time I met Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens was outside Butler University’s famed Hinkle Fieldhouse. It was winter 2012, less than a year after Stevens, then the coach at the tiny Indianapolis school, had led Bulldogs to their second consecutive NCAA championship game. I was with a friend who knew Stevens a little and wanted to say hello. I was surprised Stevens had agreed to meet us. Most college coaches don’t have time for such things, especially in the middle of the season with practice barely...
The Celtics are on a 12-game winning streak – and that’s without some of their best players. How their Eastern Conference rivals must envy themA few weeks ago, it felt like the Boston Celtics’ season had ended before it had begun. Gordon Hayward, the team’s prime free-agent acquisition over the summer, suffered a season-ending ankle injury just a few minutes into the NBA’s opening night. Unsurprisingly, Boston went on to lose to the Cleveland Cavaliers, despite a valiant comeback attempt, and then fall to the Milwaukee Bucks the very next night.And then, somehow, the Celtics became unbeatable. With their 94-95 win over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday, the Celtics improved their winning streak to 12 straight games, something the team...
The Celtics’ surprise run to the No1 seed and the Eastern Conference finals was more than any of their fans could realistically ask for. Now the real work beginsThere’s a saying that sounds like an ancient bit of received wisdom but probably originates with the justly maligned Tom Cruise vehicle Cocktail that goes “everything ends badly, otherwise it wouldn’t end”. Like many clichés that only seem meaningful if you don’t think about them too hard, it doesn’t really apply it to real life but it works wonders when talking about sports. In sports, only one team or player is guaranteed a happy ending, while every other participant’s quest ends ends in a loss, usually a painful one that effectively invalidates all of...