Philadelphia 82, Boston 81

[recap] [box score]

I'm going to get to the officiating in a second, but I want to be clear about one thing: It didn't cost us the game. The Celtics take sole responsibility for this loss. They came out with good energy and a good pace, scored the first nine points of the game, and then decided that -- just like in Game 1 -- they didn't need to show up again on the offensive end until the fourth quarter. Boston played with fire, and got burned when the Sixers hit a couple of big, tough shots.

Now, the officiating. Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that Kevin Garnett sets more moving screens than anyone in the league, that he had been setting them all night, and that the screen he set on Andre Iguodala to free up Paul Pierce on Boston's final meaningful possession was, in fact, a bad one. You still can't suddenly start calling moving screens in the final seconds of a game like that. You want to call moving screens? Fine: Do it early, make it clear that you're not putting up with it tonight. But you can't let a guy screen one way all night and then ding him for it on the game's most crucial possession.

The really frustrating thing for me is that I don't think it was a bad screen at all. The initial contact was fine, and then you can see KG leaning towards Iguodala ... but he never actually touches him. I suppose I can see why the ref called it, but he was standing right there and looking right at it. And I'm doubly frustrated because KG had been getting mauled all night inside without getting anything from the officials. It's annoying that the guy who was fouled all game is the one hit with the ticky-tack foul in the crucial moment.

But, again, the bad call didn't cost Boston the game, and as Charles Barkley said afterwards, that's why you don't screw around in the playoffs. Boston didn't put forth a maximum effort, and as a result, they lost. A bunch of weird stuff unlikely to repeat itself had to happen in order for them to lose, but Boston deserves the blame for letting themselves get into a position where that stuff could beat them.

A few additional comments:

1. Pierce was moving better to start this game, but he looked out of synch all night and was totally ineffective on offense. Down the stretch, you could see Rondo was hesitant to go to him, looking him off in the marginal situations in which he used to force the ball to him. The knee has to be bothering Pierce more than he wants us to believe.

2. In the first half we gave Philly a heavy dose of Brandon Bass pick-and-pop, but it was all baseline, and not at his preferred spot, the elbow. I'm not sure if the Sixers were forcing us into that or what, but Bass has been struggling in the playoffs and a good way to get him going would be to start giving him the ball in the spots in which he's comfortable.

3. The role players were really good tonight. Ryan Hollins and Greg Stiemsma brought a lot of energy, as did Keyon Dooling, and Mickael Pietrus nailed a couple huge three-pointers in the fourth quarter. They gave the starters more than they should need to win.

Back to Philly for Game 3 on Wednesday. If this is the Sixers' best shot, and I think it might be, then we should win the series without too much trouble.

As long as we show up, that is.