The Philadelphia 76ers entered the playoffs with the worst record of any team still playing. The Boston Celtics had advanced to at least the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs for four straight years, had the core of the 2008 NBA Championship team still around and playing at a high level, and just beat the largely healthy Atlanta Hawks in six games in the series before.
Sixers Vs. Celtics, 2012 NBA Playoffs: Philly Jumps On C’s Early
None of that has mattered in the first half of the teams' first game of the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Sixers came out absolutely on fire and didn't really let up at any point, and they lead at halftime, 47-42. The strength of their team has been their defense, but their offense hasn't been bad either. Philadelphia was led by Andre Iguodala and Evan Turner, each of whom have 12 points. Turner, the team's starting shooting guard, has a team high eight rebounds.
The Celtics came out completely flat, doing the opposite of energizing the home crowd and scoring just 18 points in the first quarter. They played better in the second, but other than Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, no one's really done much of anything. Garnett is leading all scorers with 14 points on 6-9 shooting and Allen has eight off the bench.
Things could be a lot worse for Boston right now. They had a 6-0 run to end the half to bring it to within five points, and absolutely no one is counting out this crew. Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo need to get going for them to overtake the upstarts from Philly, however.
For more on the Celtics, check out Celtics Blog and SB Nation Boston. For more on the 76ers, head over to Liberty Ballers and SB Nation Philly.
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