A little more than a month ago, it wasn't a certainty that the 76ers would qualify for the playoffs. Now, they're one win away from reaching the Eastern Conference Finals. True, they've take advantage of their foe's flaws to arrive at this opportunity - the Bulls were hobbled and the Celtics are creaky - but as squad whose players have the least amount of postseason games under their belts* - shouldn't their opponents have been taking advantage of them? No member of the Sixers is less tested than Lavoy Allen, a rookie second-round draft pick, yet he has scored only two less points in the series than Ray Allen, a potential first ballot future Hall of Famer. That stat sounds like a sick joke, more Joan Rivers than Doc Rivers. Not too shabby for the player ranked the lowest in the league by espn.com back in October (500th, to be exact).
Jrue Holiday labeled a must-win game 6 as the "end of the world," saying game 7 is the sequel, but he has it backwards. It's more likely to be the end of the world for the Celtics because Allen and Kevin Garnett are free agents and chances are as slim as Garnett's calves that both will be back. If the 76ers lose it's fine, since they've already moved up in the world from the streets to the suites and their roster should remain intact, but if the Celtics lose, everyone will wonder what in the world went wrong.
*under their drawstrings would be more accurate
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