PHILADELPHIA – Jrue Holiday scored 20 points, and Elton Brand had 13 points and 10 rebounds Wednesday night to lead the Philadelphia 76ers past the Celtics 82-75, sending the Eastern Conference semifinals back to Boston for Game 7.

No team has won consecutive games in a series where neither team has played well enough to seize control. But the Sixers were good enough to win Game 6, improving to 5-0 this postseason in games following a loss.

“Game 7,” Coach Doug Collins said. “That’s all we wanted was to win tonight and give ourselves a chance to go into Boston and see what happens on Saturday.”

Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo could be playing their last game together Saturday night if they can’t find a way to hang onto the ball and put away the Sixers.

“I want more,” Collins said. “We’re going to get greedy. We want more.”

The Celtics posted ugly numbers across the board: Blame the loss on the 33 percent shooting, the 17 turnovers or the 3-of-14 3-point shooting. Either way, there’s enough to go around. Pierce had 24 points and 10 rebounds, and Garnett had 20 points and 11 boards.

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“We found a way to stay in the game for the most part,” Pierce said.

They did because the Sixers again failed to put up the sparkling numbers in the box score usually required for a deep postseason run. They missed 8 of 9 3-pointers, shot a woeful 17 of 28 from the foul line and had 12 turnovers.

“When you get out there, you don’t feel much,” Brand said. “You’ve got the adrenaline flowing. You’re banging and fighting. That’s why Coach has confidence in me to play 34 minutes.”

Unlike Game 5, when the Sixers collapsed in the third quarter and blew a lead, they suddenly found a groove.

They started hitting free throws, kept turnovers to a minimum (two), and fed the ball to a starting lineup that had been largely outproduced by a fantastic bench.

Evan Turner was fouled on a go-ahead layup but missed from the line. That made the Sixers 5 of 13 while the Celtics were 14 of 14.

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Andre Iguodala split two defenders and threw down a dunk over Pierce to draw the foul. He made his first free throw after missing his first four and the Sixers led by five.

Pierce led the parade to the line for the Boston. He made his first 11 attempts for a Celtics team that was 17 of 17 through three quarters. The Celtics made only 19 field goals through three.

“We’ve got to move the ball and continue the defense we’ve been playing,” Pierce said.

While the Sixers swapped shot makers on almost every possession, the Celtics never found that third and fourth option behind Pierce and Garnett.

“We never really established Kevin,” Boston Coach Doc Rivers said. “Even though Kevin had points, it wasn’t the type of points we needed.”

Rondo had tortured the Sixers over the first five games, but was limited to nine points (4-of-14 shooting) and six assists.

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He’ll need to return to form at home for the Celtics to have a chance at avoiding the upset.

“It’s been a tough series. It’s down to a Game 7,” Garnett said. “We’ve played well at times, they’ve played well at times. But now we’ll take it home and see what we can do.”

Iguodala and Turner scored 12 points. Lou Williams had 11 and the Sixers outscored Boston 42-16 in the paint.

 


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