Thanks for bringing up a subject that has been bugging me since I heard a Bill Simmons podcast where he really put down Covington and Simmons.

Covington shot 36.9% from deep and was the highest rated defensive player for the 76ers during the regular season at 99.0. That is better than Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, Kyrie Irving, Terry Rozier and Marcus Morris.

Did he play horribly against the Celtics? Yes. But how much of this was due to Stevens completely out coaching his Philadelphia counterpart?

The same thing goes with Simmons’ comment that Simmons is not a good defender. With a 101.4 defensive rating, he improved his team’s (102.0 rating) when he was on the floor.

He had more rebounds, steals, blocks, loose balls recovered, deflections and contested shots than any other non-center on the Celtics.

What he could have said, which would be a fair analysis of Simmons was that he has some weaknesses as an off-ball defender because he sometimes loses sight of his guy while he’s playing free safety. In the case of the Celtics, they have too many guys who can finish at the rim and too good a coach not to take advantage of this hole in his game.

The 76ers completely threw away games 2 and 3, and had a 4-point lead with 1:37 to go in game 5.

If Brett Brown wasn’t so incompetent in late game situations, Philly would be headed back home to clinch the series in 6 games.

If Brad Stevens switched places with Brett Brown, the 76ers would have won the series in 5 games. Who knows, maybe it could have been a sweep.