Wearin' of the Green

Jeff Green drives vs. Phila 76ers

BOSTON - October 21, 2012 - The first seven minutes of an NBA preseason game will not make or break a season, but tonight at the TD Garden, the Philadelphia 76ers learned a lot about their team after they went down 12-3 to the Boston Celtics. The start forced Sixers coach Doug Collins to call a time-out to right the ship and he gathered his team for a quick turn-around. Three minutes later, after a 10-0 run by the 76ers, the preseason game score was 14-13. Certainly no big deal in the grand scheme of things, but to Collins, it told the tale of what his club will need to do to compete against Philly's longtime NBA Atlantic Division rival.

"I told our guys after the game, the thing I'm proud about is that competitive heart," said Collins, a serious judge of the heart of champions of Olympic-sized proportions. "Regardless of who is playing, who is out there, whatever teh score and whatever the situation might be, I think we have guys who really want to win, which is a really good thing.

"If you take away that first seven minutes of the game and the first seven minutes of the third quarter (when the Celtics went on a 10-0 run of their own), I thought we did a good job defensively." added Collins. "They had about 10 points in the paint, bang, bang, bang, to start the third quarter. Playing against Boston, they don't have that big center  although Kevin Garnett caused all kinds of problems (for the Sixers), (Jared) Sullinger is a big body, Brandon Bass is more of a jump shooter and Jeff Green has come in to play that "four spot" so this is a (Boston) team that really executes well.

Read the full story at Digital Sports Desk