76ers even series with 82-81 win over Celts

[May 15, 2012]  BOSTON (AP) -- After taking out the top seed in the Eastern Conference in the opening round of the playoffs, the Philadelphia 76er's weren't about to get discouraged by a one-point loss to Boston to start the second round.

The feisty Sixers learned from it and outscrapped the Celtics in Game 2, winning 82-81 on Monday night to even the second-round series.

"I think we're growing. We have a young team," said Jrue Holiday, who led Philadelphia with 18 points. "I can't preach enough on our vets, really, just taking us under their wings and just keeping us focused and paying attention to detail -- the little things that helped us win this game."

Lots of little things added up to one very big win for the Sixers, who let another fourth-quarter lead slip away in Boston, but this time fought to take it right back. Philadelphia fought off every run the Celtics made down the stretch.

"We just found a way," Philadelphia coach Doug Collins said. "All season long we couldn't win these games and now our guys are believing they can do it. And it is pretty special to watch."

Game 3 is Wednesday in Philadelphia, where the Sixers are 3-0 in the playoffs. The city hasn't hosted a second-round game in nine years and will be welcoming home a confident, young group of players who have shown the kind of grit Philadelphia fans love.

"We knew to expect the same type of game," said Evan Turner, whose layup with 40.4 seconds to play put Philadelphia ahead to stay. "We did what we needed to do to win this game, just like we didn't the first time around."

Turner's layup gave the Sixers a 76-75 lead and Philadelphia clinched it by going 6 for 6 from the free throw line over the final 12 seconds.

Turner finished with 10 points, Jrue Holiday scored 18 and Andre Iguodala added 13 points, seven assists and six rebounds for the Sixers, who blew a 10-point fourth quarter lead in the Celtics' Game 1 victory.

Philadelphia failed to hang on to the lead again, but this time the Sixers outplayed the Celtics down the stretch.

Game 3 is Wednesday in Philadelphia.

Philadelphia won its first playoff game in Boston since 1982 despite committing a playoff-high 19 turnovers and getting outrebounded 47-36.

"We're keeping our composure. We're keeping our confidence and know it's going to be grind-out games," Iguodala said.

Every time the Celtics appeared to have regained the momentum, the Sixers came up with an answer. After trailing by eight points entering the fourth quarter, Boston's Kevin Garnett tied it at 65-all on a turnaround jumper with 4:33 to play. The Celtics had the Sixers on the verge of a turnover when Paul Pierce blocked Lou Williams and the ball went out of bounds with just .9 seconds left on the shot clock.

No problem.

Lavoy Allen got the inbounds pass and banked in a shot from 22 feet and the Sixers were back in the lead.

"Well, the clock was down to point-nine seconds. I did what I could," Allen said.

Garnett scored 11 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 12 rebounds. Ray Allen scored 17 points for Boston.

Brandon Bass had 12 points for the Celtics, who couldn't quite repeat their comeback in the series-opening 92-91 victory.

"Listen, we put ourselves in that position," Boston coach Doc Rivers said. "You put yourself in position to let someone else do something, then you can lose games and that's what happened."

Philadelphia led 57-49 entering the fourth, but Boston tied it twice before going up 72-71 on Avery Bradley's 3-pointer, setting off a series of shots from beyond the arc.

Holiday answered with a 3 for the Sixers, then Ray Allen got the lead right back for the Celtics on a 3-pointer with 1:40 left. The Celtics had a chance to extend the lead after forcing the Sixers into a 24-second shot clock violation, but Rajon Rondo missed a shot and Iguodala got the rebound, leading to Turner's layup to put the Sixers up 76-75.

"We gave them a couple shots that if we could get back we would love to have back," Ray Allen said.

Rondo and Allen both missed shots that would have put Boston ahead, then Rondo fouled Turner with 14.4 seconds left. The Celtics fouled Turner again with 12 seconds and he hit both free throws to extend the lead to 78-76.

"We knew it'd be a close game. We just needed to get stops down the stretch and we didn't," said Pierce, who finished with seven points. "The third quarter really hurt us. We couldn't score, and then Turner made some tough shots down the stretch."

NOTES: The Celtics scored the first nine points. ... Boston made its first five shots, not missing until Spencer Hawes blocked Bradley's attempt 3:24 into the game. ... Rondo had eight assists in the first half, including alley-oop setups for Greg Stiemsma and Ryan Hollins, who had to reach behind his head for the pass but still corralled it for the two-handed dunk to put the Celtics up 33-29. ... Holiday led Philadelphia with 13 points in the first half. He was the only Sixer to score in double figures in the first two periods. Hawes was the next closest with six points. ... The Sixers had lost their last seven playoff games in Boston, last winning on May 23, 1982, in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals.

[Associated Press]

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