Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doug Collins turns to history to motivate his team: NBA Playoffs Update
As the Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Semi Final series between the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers approaches, both teams are looking for motivation to advance to the Conference Finals.
Philadelphia Head Coach Doug Collins, whose team currently trails the seven games series 2-3, has turned to history to achieve that.
In a hope to motivate his young team, Collins has showed them the tapes of the Game 7 between these two teams, in the series which saw the Sixers defeat the great Celtics side to advance to the NBA Finals.
Collins himself was a part of the 82` Philadelphia team, which defeated the likes of Larry Bird, Andrew Toney, Maurice Cheeks, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale and they achieved the feat by winning the game seven at the T.D. Garden.
The Sixers will host the Game 6 at the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday and if they manage to pull this one off, the team on which nobody put their money as the start of the post season, will be in a similar position in Game 7.
Then it will up to them to repeat history once again;
“How bad do you want to go back for a Game 7," Collins said, "when the odds say you're not going to win that. We have that same opportunity, let’s give ourselves that chance. Let's get ourselves back to Boston with a Game 7 and
see what we can do. Sometimes, I think it's good to go back and let guys see the history of the franchise with Boston and Philly."
The Sixers are on the verge of crashing out of the playoffs and the way Boston drubbed them Game 5, their chances to advance do look bleak. One thing that can work in their favour though is that the wins in this series have been
alternating and no side has been able to win two in a row.
The C’s however have been improving with every game and just in last match; Brandon Bass also added his name to the list of threats that they have to cater for.
Philadelphia players are aware of the fact that their team faces elimination and sounded desperate;
"We're on the edge right now, there’s no comfortable feelings anywhere around here." – Elton Brand
Collins, who has been looking to motivate his team since the shattering loss in Game 5, is however not thinking elimination.
"I don't know why you would talk about an elimination game," Collins said. "I just say, `Let's win Game 6.' Elimination game to me is negative."
Whether his players will live up to his buoyant approach on the court however is entirely another matter.
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