BOSTON --- The Sixers could have played poorly Saturday, sloppy, lazy, seemingly still celebrating their wild series victory over the Chicago Bulls.

They could have done that and written off their Game 1 loss to the Celtics as basketball, as life, as bad luck.

But they didn't. And they can't. And that's a problem.

It's one thing to play poorly and lose. It's another to play about as well as possible ... and lose.

The Sixers were lively Saturday, and willing to plant five red shirts at the defensive end to block every Boston surge. They defended with passion, shot well early and were in a position to commandeer control of the series.

And whent that's good enough, it's like a boxer who hits an opponent with his best possible punch ... only to notice that he is still there, standing.

Now what?

"If you've followed our team all year, that's kind of the team we are," Doug Collins said. "We don't drop our heads. We don't do that. We'll come back and play just as hard in Game 2. And we will, as long as I am the coach."

Game 2 Monday.

Check out my column and a story on the Sixers' learning experience in the Daily Times Sunday and, as always, on delcotimes.com.