Bittersweet ending for the Sixers

Sixers' players look dejected after a game seven loss to the Boston Celtics.  Photo Courtesy of csnphilly.com.

As the seconds wound down to zero in game seven against the Celtics, the Sixers realized that their season was slowly coming to a close.  The Boston Celtics' experience was too much for the Sixers to handle as they won, sending themselves to the Eastern Conference Finals in Miami.

Many of the Sixers knew this was an opportunity that had slipped from their grasp.  With Paul Pierce fouling out in the final two minutes and the momentum in their favor, the Sixers had a chance to take the lead as well as the series. However, Rajon Rondo envisioned something different, taking over the game with two clutch shots that put the nail in the coffin for the Sixers.

Sixers' head coach Doug Collins never let his team stop fighting. 

Although many Sixers' fans were disappointed with the result, they were proud that their team never stopped fighting, similarly resembling the blue collar city of Philadelphia.  No one expected this team to beat a number one-seeded team, and then send a perennial team like the Celtics to a seventh game.  

All season long, Sixers' head coach Doug Collins embedded the words "Don't stop fighting; we're still in this," into his team's mindset from their struggles during the second half of the All-Star break to the final minutes of the Eastern Conference semifinals.  The fighting attitude the Sixers possessed just goes to show how great of a job Collins had done with a team that had no definite scorer or game-changing player. 

The Sixers are looking to be a championship bound team next year.

With all that said, it is great to be an underachiever or the underdogs who no one expected to do so well. Yet, not wanting to be an underachiever, Collins made it clear to the media that he wanted to add talent to the team, enabling them to be labeled as championship bound.

Now that the season has ended, Collins as well as the owners of the Sixers are able to blueprint their possible blockbuster moves or ideas for the off-season.  Playing in the playoffs not only helped the Sixers with their experience, but for the attractiveness in the trade market.