Marreese Speights withdraws into his jersey.
Speights saw limited action.
Whether fans watched it on TV or sat in the Wachovia Center, the thought must have been the same: This is how the 76ers are going down?
Yes, it was.
After a season of losses to losing teams and wins over winning teams, after the ups and downs and resilience, the Sixers' season ended in embarrassment last night.
It ended in a 114-89 loss to the Orlando Magic, a team whose suspended centerpiece, Dwight Howard, was watching from his hotel, Twittering his observations. And Orlando was missing its shooting guard, Courtney Lee, who had surgery to repair his broken sinus.
Without 40 percent of their starting lineup, the Magic dismissed the Sixers, winning the best-of-seven series, four games to two.
Afterward, Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy sat down, chuckling, then plugged his daughter in the student-council election at her high school - he had promised he would.
"The last thing I said to the guys leaving the locker room is 'Be great today,' " Van Gundy said. "One of the best wins I've ever been a part of."
Van Gundy said his team was appreciative of what Howard does, but was motivated to win without him.
"They're joking in there, 'Once we got rid of Dwight's 24 points and 24 rebounds, things really opened up,' " said Van Gundy, laughing.
Meanwhile, Sixers coach Tony DiLeo looked as if he had swallowed a golf ball. He said what happened was inexplicable.
"Well, that was extremely disappointing," DiLeo said, folding his stat sheet in half.
"After the season we've had, after the playoffs up until this point we had, to finish off a season with that game is disappointing" DiLeo said. "We're fighters and resilient, but this game was, for us, a total collapse."
It started bad, then got worse: The Sixers trailed by nine after the first quarter, 14 at halftime, and 15 after three.
It got so bad that with 2 minutes, 42 seconds remaining in the third quarter and the Sixers trailing by 85-65, many in the crowd of 16,691 drowned the team in boos.
"We were all over the place, and instead of trying to cover for each other, we were trying to cover for ourselves," said Andre Iguodala. "They showed they were a mentally tougher team."
Most in the crowd stuck with the team until 7:51 was left in the fourth, when the Sixers trailed by 22 points. During a time-out, a huge part of that crowd stood up and filed to the concourse.
"We know the Philly fans," said Thaddeus Young, who did not score in the second half and finished with eight points. "When you're winning, they're with you; when you're losing, they're going to let you know."
"Personally, it was embarrassing," said guard Lou Williams, who finished with 17 points. "We came into this series thinking we can beat this team."
The replacements for Howard and Lee, Marcin Gortat and J.J. Redick, outplayed their counterparts, Samuel Dalembert and Willie Green.
Gortat finished with 11 points and 15 rebounds, Redick with 15 points and 4 assists. Starting forward Rashard Lewis scored a game-high 29, and speedy point guard Rafer Alston added 21.
The most thrilling moment of the second half came with 6:24 remaining. While boxing out, Dalembert appeared to catch Magic forward Hedo Turkoglu, perhaps with an elbow. After the play ended, Turkoglu, chest out, stepped into Dalembert. Teammates and referees quickly separated the two.
Both were assessed technical fouls, but because it was Turkoglu's second of the game, he was ejected.
"It's a sour way to go out," said Sixers point guard Andre Miller, who scored 24 points. "It's disappointing, really disappointing to me. I'm not happy."
Iguodala finished with 20, but he scored nine of those in the fourth quarter, after the game was decided. Green went 1 for 5 in the first half, 1 for 3 in the second, and finished with four points.
Van Gundy said his team was motivated by one sentence, uttered by Young on Wednesday.
Young had said, "Dwight being out is huge for us."
Van Gundy shook his head.
"Got to watch all that stuff," he said. "This league will bring you to your knees."
Last night, it seemed to bring the Sixers even lower
