The Celtics winning streak may have unraveled in the last five minutes of their 98-97 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers Friday night, but its seed was sown much earlier.

Rasheed Wallace’s ejection midway through the second quarter didn’t just mean an early exit for the Celtics sixth man it also had a ripple effect on the entire roster. Brian Scalabrine logged important big man minutes in the second half as Doc Rivers was forced to utilize a smaller lineup, while Kendrick Perkins had to play most of the final quarter in foul trouble.

Wallace’s ejection ultimately kick-started an unlikely Sixers comeback. How unlikely? The Celtics had won 60 games in a row when they had a lead of 15 points or greater, and while it would be unfair to blame the entire collapse on Sheed’s shoulders, it isn’t a bad place to start.

The Celtics 11-game winning streak is history and so is their perfect record against the rest of their division. It happens. It is the NBA after all, but one can’t help but think that it shouldn’t have gone down the way it did.

Here are three more things we learned:

THE CELTICS HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND IT IS THEM

When the Celtics are at full strength there are maybe four teams that can beat them straight up: Orlando, Atlanta, Cleveland and the Lakers.

When they lose to anyone else and the key players are all present and accounted for, there is only one place to look when assigning blame.

“We’re our own worst enemy,” Paul Pierce said. “We have to take a look in the mirror.”

“We stopped executing,” Kevin Garnett added. “Our energy sucked all night. We could have done a better job with our energy. Philly’s going to be a team that’s going to scrap for 48 minutes. We didn’t put them away like we were supposed to.”

This is a dangerous game that the Celtics have a tendency to play. It hasn’t manifested itself much this season, but when it does it gets real ugly, real fast. See also: Pacers, Indiana.

“I don’t know if it was energy,” Doc Rivers said. “I thought it was urgency and that manifested itself into energy. They played like they were going to win the game. Execution tonight was awful. It was just bad. Out of timeouts going to the wrong spots, walking to their spots. We played with this swagger, this losing swagger. It’s one thing to have a winning swagger where you go out and feel great about your team and it’s another thing when you think the other team is just going to lay over because you’re the Celtics.”

The Celtics two biggest issues, always, are offensive rebounds and turnovers. They turned the ball over 12 times in the first half, which played a large part in keeping the Sixers in the game, and they got burned for 10 offensive rebounds in the second half. 

“The offensive rebounds are still a product of two things,” Rivers said. “One we’re not physical. Two we’re not stopping dribble penetration and our bigs are running around guarding everyone else’s man. That tonight was as much as us being physical.”

True enough, but both issues are also a cause of not taking care of the little things (executing) and being over-confident to a fault.

THE COST OF SHEED’S MELTDOWN

The Celtics were up by 11 points in the second quarter when referee Bill Kennedy threw Wallace out of the game. The Sixers made both technical free throws and it doesn’t take a math wiz or Kevin Pelton to note that the C’s lost by one.

But Wallace’s ejection goes much deeper than that. Without his presence, Rivers was forced to use a smaller lineup in the rotation and the Sixers feasted on the offensive boards.

“I’m disappointed when anyone gets thrown out of the game,” Rivers said. “Whether you’re right or wrong doesn’t matter. You’ve got to control yourself to stay in the game but he didn’t. He’s a grown man. He understands his value to this team and his teammates. And I think at some point they’ll get to him.

“He’s been doing it a long time. He’s an expert at it, but we knew that when we got him. He’s been great for our team but he’s going to have some of these games.”

Wallace wasn’t around after the game to talk about the ejection, which was probably for the best. Last time he spoke his mined he got fined $30,000 and one can only imagine how much he would have been hit this time. He might get fined regardless.   

The Celtics need Wallace on the floor. They need his presence and they need his length. Most of the time you can chalk up the techs and the histrionics to Sheed being Sheed but this time it cost his team a game.

THE TONY ALLEN EQUATION

Just mentioning the name “Tony Allen” is enough to give some Celtics fans a case of hives. He has been written off time and again and for a good part of this young season he was barely an afterthought. 

But as is often the case in the NBA, one player’s misfortune is another’s opportunity and with Marquis Daniels out for the next two months or so, Tony Allen once again has a place within the Celtics hierarchy.

“With Tony, we want him to be a great defensive player,” Rivers said before the game. “The offense is gravy as far as I’m concerned. What he has to do to stay on the floor is take care of the basketball.”

Those are the parameters by which Tony Allen must abide if he is to remain a part of the Celtics puzzle. On a night when there wasn’t much else for the Celtics to feel good about, Tony Allen had his best game in recent memory.

Ten points and a vicious dunk were just the icing on the cake. The important numbers were “3” as in steals and “0” as in turnovers. When Allen plays within those parameters he can be an asset to this team because, again, he can do things that no one else on this team can do.

Daniels is a fine defensive player and a much better ballhandler, but Tony Allen can be (emphasis on ‘can be’) a lockdown defender and is a better finisher. It’s unwise to get too far ahead of oneself when the subject at hand is as enigmatic as T.A., but for one night at least, he delivered the goods.