Sometimes in life, you get smacked with reality so hard that it leaves you brooding and deep in thought about what just happened. That is basically the feeling with the Sixers after losing to the Boston Celtics 4-1 in what was a tightly contested series. The Celtics exposed the weaknesses of the Sixers and kept picking at them like an annoying scab on your arm. That mixed with the inexperience of executing in close games against a good team in the later rounds of the playoffs really showed.

Simmons was ineffective

Ben Simmons was taken out of this series. He finally had a decent game in game 4, but the Celtics had no problem sticking Al Horford on Simmons and basically playing free safety. With Simmons inability to shoot, Horford played 10-12 feet off of him and when Simmons did try some drives to the basket Horford and the Celtic wings did a good job of walling off the paint. It wasn't just the lack of a jumper, Simmons was forced to take awkward runners and floaters mostly with his right hand because of his limited ability finishing with the left hand and finishing through contact.

Transition opportunities were limited for Simmons as well. The Celtics didn't send anyone to the offensive glass and opted to have the center run back on defense, effectively creating a wall in transition. Preventing Simmons from barrelling his way to the basket. He was also turned in his worst defensive stretch since his LSU days.

The Celtics gameplan for Simmons essentially allowed the Celtic wings to play tighter on the Sixers' shooters, forcing them to dribble drive and make decisions. With Simmons as the only lead ballhandler in the starting lineup, the Celtics rendered the Sixers' offense useless. Simmons was a -63 when he was on the court vs +48 when was on the bench, the highest difference of any player in the series. 

Celtics exposed the Sixers' need for more athletic 2 way wings

When you look at how the Sixers' finished the season as a top-five defensive team, it's incredible that they accomplished that with basically Joel Embiid, Simmons, Robert Covington, and Amir Johnson sprinkled in with some TJ McConnell. All season they covered for JJ Redick, Dario Saric, Marco Belinelli and Ersan Ilyasova. 

The Celtics hunted the Sixers' weaker parts of the starting lineup. On defense, Jayson Tatum was able to cook Redick, Belinelli, and Saric on switches, Marcus Smart had success posting up Redick and Belinelli. Jaylen Brown was also able to feast on those guys as well. With Joel Embiid struggling on defense along with Simmons and Robert Covington struggling on defensively on the perimeter all series long, it made the glaring weaknesses more profound.

On the other end, with Simmons as the only player who could create from the perimeter, the Celtics opted to basically put the Sixers shooters in a stranglehold. Not allowing them to get off clean looks for most of the series. Redick had to become a driver, Covington was mauled defensively, Belinelli couldn't get off anything clean and then launched ridiculous contested shots. Dario Saric was played tighter and had trouble Dario'ing his way in the post against longer and more athletic players, he also had trouble driving past the Celtic wings. The Sixers really could've used a ball handler who could create his own shot off the dribble and create for others....if only they had drafted one of those this past draft and said player didn't forget how to shoot a basketball..... 

TJ McConnell was the only other credible ball handler

What a world. It was very clear from the beginning of the Series that TJ McConnell ran the offense more effectively this series, and was basically the Sixers best player. McConnell was able to get some dribble penetration, can launch a mid-range jumper off the bounce with some confidence, and was the only credible player that could guard Terry Roizer. It was clear from the jump that McConnell was the best player in the minutes he was given. 

Late game execution

The Sixers two stars are to blame for this one, and it's mainly through inexperience in games 2, 3 and 5. Game 3, Embiid, Redick Simmons were not on the same page and had some crucial turnovers in the final seconds of regulation Simmons had an offensive rebound with 19 seconds left in overtime and instead of preserving a 1 point lead and pulling back out to make the Celtics foul, he tried a putback floater and missed it, leading to the Celtics drawing up the play to get the go-ahead bucket. Simmons then followed it up with a lazy pass to Embiid leading to an Al Horford steal, basically sealing the game. 

Game 5 was much of the same. Sixers had a 4 point lead with 90 seconds left and allowed the Celtics to tie the game. Dario turned the ball over after posting up Marcus Smart, and then Smart followed up on a putback layup to tie the game a few possessions later. Simmons then lost Tatum and allowed him to sneak to the rim for the go-ahead layup. 

It was the minor things that were poorly botched that piled up in this series, and against a well-coached team, you have to be able to execute the small things.

All is not lost

It was certainly a disappointing end, but it's important to not lose sight of how much of a success this season was. If you had of told fans before the season started that the team would win 52 games, nab the 3 seed and win a playoff series, they would've taken that scenario and run with it. It was a great season and a disappointing series loss to a good team shouldn't change what happened.

Now comes possibly the most important offseason in the history of the franchise.