Did the Sixers Win It or Did the Celtics Blow It?

Game 4 between the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers was—rather predictably—a muddled mess. The triumphant club finished despite only converting 37.8 percent of its shots, the most valiant baskets were scored as a result of slowly broken defense and both squads went through prolonged spells of scoreless misery.

It was exactly the kind of ugly affair that has plagued the Eastern Conference playoffs thus far, as two defense-first outfits attempted to grind one another into the ground while putting together whatever offense they could muster. 

The result was as razor-thin as we’ve come to expect, with both teams playing to a virtual draw. Yet thanks to Andre Iguodala’s particularly timely scoring contributions, the Sixers stand as the night’s winners and have pulled to an even 2-2 with the series heading back to Boston. 

Yet every game is both won and lost. While it’s true that Iguodala and the Sixers pulled out a gutsy, hard-fought win, it’s difficult to shake the feeling that the Celtics gave this particular game away. Their failures wouldn’t seem so dramatic if not for the 76ers' offensive persistence, but the fact that Boston gave up a double-digit lead while surrendering 61 second-half points speaks volumes about the nature of this game and gives us ample evidence in our attribution of blame.

Put simply: The incredible and heralded Boston defense cratered. 

The Celtics’ D was supposed to be the single commodity in this series that would bend but not break. We knew coming in that Boston’s offense would come and go, as it has all season (and really, has for the last several seasons). We knew that the 76ers’ D, mighty in its own right, would make things difficult, and it held the potential to turn this series into a stalemate.

But the Sixers were never supposed to be able to manufacture offense so efficiently, even if their boom of a second half only barely managed to make up for their drought in the opening two quarters.

If that first half was a dominant display of what these Celtics are capable of defensively, then the follow-up was exactly the kind of let-up that they can never allow.

Boston doesn’t have this kind of margin for error. Rajon Rondo and Avery Bradley can’t let up. Kevin Garnett and Brandon Bass can’t be late in their rotations. Paul Pierce can’t stop for a moment in his harassment of prominent wing players. The defense has to be intense and in tune at all times, because Boston’s offense simply doesn’t have the firepower to make up for anything less. 

This was absolutely a game that the Sixers won, but it should be framed—and remembered—as one that the Celtics lost. They’ll have ample opportunity in the games to come to straighten out their uncharacteristic defensive deficiencies, but by allowing a team so lacking in shot creation to find its footing, Boston has both squandered an opportunity and allowed its opponent to amass precious confidence.

The importance of both of those outcomes shouldn’t be understated in a series this competitive; offense is incredibly precious for both of these inefficient clubs, but after four highly contested games, the Sixers' offense—if only temporarily—has begun to break through. This win wasn’t built on successful strategic shift or an altered rotation, but the very notion that even the single most powerful element of this series can be pushed to its breaking point.