The Sixer/Celtic rivalry is alive and kicking. The Celtics thought they had the series wrapped up after going 2-0 at home. During Game 3 in Philadelphia, Antoine Walker was "wiggling" and Paul Pierce was shouting "Sweep! Sweep!" The Sixers were able to avoid the sweep by winning Game 3. Game 4 went down to the wire, but it was Allen Iverson who came up big in the end forcing a Game 5 in Boston.
Phil Jasner of the Daily News writes that there is a Game 5 because Allen Iverson, shooting a struggling 5-for-21 from the floor, knocked down four of his last five and finished with 28 points. There is a Game 5 because Iverson scored the Sixers' final eight points. There is a Game 5 because the Sixers ratcheted up the defense, leaving the Celtics shooting just 39.7 percent.
There is a Game 5 because the Celtics, who drained 15 of 30 three-point shots in Game 3, were only 9-for-29 last night, because the Celtics' Antoine Walker was scoreless in the fourth quarter, missing all four of his shots. In the fourth quarter of the last three games, Walker is 1-for-15 for four points.
But more than anything, there is a Game 5 because Iverson did something even more impressive than scoring 42 points, as he did in Game 3. This time, he fought through what he saw as a forest of adversity.