Brand: 76ers 'little overconfident' in Game 3

PHILADELPHIA -- The Sixers spent a good deal of their practice Thursday at the Philadelphia College of Osteopaedic Medicine reviewing film from their Game 3 loss to the Celtics and watching their coaching staff show how Rajon Rondo, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce manhandled them. 

Afterward, Elton Brand, the most veteran member of the Sixers, made a point to say that Philadelphia respects Boston's experience, while learning a huge lesson from the loss. 

"I've always said, they are very experienced but they're not old," Brand said. "These guys know what they're doing. They're not old. It's not like that. We were a little overconfident, but as we saw [Wednesday] night, it wasn't like that."

The Sixers beat the Celtics in Game 2, 82-81, and nearly beat them in Game 1 in Boston, losing by one point. Those two games in Boston, according to Brand, gave the Sixers confidence that they could beat the Celtics anywhere. But after the Sixers jumped out to a 33-28 lead in the first quarter Wednesday, the Celtics outscored them 61-33 in the next two quarters to seize complete control of the game. 

"Garnett is playing great, Paul Pierce had an incredible sense of urgency, he was attacking that basket," Sixers coach Doug Collins said. "[Pierce] shot 14 free throws. You could see they were saying, 'We're not going to shoot jump shots.' "

Already up 2-1 in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series, the Celtics will look to move to within one game of the Eastern finals with a win Friday night at Wells Fargo Center. If they win, the Celtics could advance to the conference finals with a win Monday night at home in Game 5. 

For complete coverage from the team of Paul Flannery and Mike Petraglia on site in Philadelphia, visit the Celtics team page at weei.com/celtics and the Green Street blog.