NBA Playoffs 2012: Boston Celtics' Collapse in Game 4 Should Surprise No One

If you were at all surprised by the Boston Celtics' collapse in a Game 4 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night, then you are not a Celtics fan. If you are a Celtics fan, then you should have already known that Boston is the most masochistic team in the NBA. The C's enjoy making things difficult on themselves.

Since Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen joined forces with Paul Pierce in 2007, Boston has had six chances to go up 3-1. Out of those six chances, only twice did it capitalize, one being that miraculous 24-point comeback win over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 4 of the 2008 Finals and the other coming this year against the Atlanta Hawks.

I think we all fondly remember the Celtics' championship year in 2007-08, when they went up 2-0 on the Hawks, only to see Atlanta battle back and tie the series; 2-0 on the Cleveland Cavaliers before Cleveland evened things up; and 2-1 on the Detroit Pistons when, you guessed it: Detroit knotted the series at two.

Of course, Boston went on to win each of those series and eventually won it all, but it had trouble closing teams out the whole way through.

The Celtics' run to the Finals in 2010 can even serve as a solid example, as they took a commanding 3-0 lead on the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals and actually allowed Orlando to get it to 3-2 before finally closing the series out in Boston in Game 6.

I guess what I am saying is that the C's are going to beat the 76ers. They are the better team. Philadelphia needs Boston to play as badly as it possibly can to win, and that has already happened twice in this series.

I give the Sixers all of the credit in the world for rallying from 18 down to win Game 4, but I still hold the belief that in order for a comeback like that to happen, the team that is down certainly has to play outstandingly, but the team that allows the rally to occur has to play terribly. The Celtics absolutely played terribly in the second half.

It is just extremely frustrating to watch Boston, a team that needs rest more than any other team in the playoffs, blow opportunity after opportunity.

The C's could have closed out the Hawks in Game 5, but they squandered an early 10-point lead and were forced to play a Game 6. They could have also already ended their series with Philadelphia by now, as one could seriously argue that they should have swept the 76ers, but yet, here we are, tied 2-2 facing an enormous Game 5 on Monday.

Once Boston built a 15-point halftime lead over the Sixers, I thought this time things would be different. This time, the Celtics would bury an inferior team when they had the chance, knowing that they needed all the rest they could get for the Eastern Conference Finals and possibly beyond.

Silly me. I forgot that these are the Boston Celtics we're talking about, and the Boston Celtics never make things easy.

They will still win this series, but they should have done it already.

'Tis the life of a Boston Celtics fan.