Shame on the Sixers for not following the script in pressure-packed moments

Shame on the 76ers.

Shame on them for turning a season with NBA championship expectations into a series of tedious recurring events.

Shame on the Sixers for making us think they’re on their way to consistently playing at an elite level and allowing themselves to crumble back into the same old mess in pressure situations.

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James Harden over-dribbling in key situations. Tobias Harris going MIA in the second half. Joel Embiid committing inopportune turnovers. And very few adjustments being made on the sidelines.

Remember that was a problem last season and at the beginning of this one, especially in losses to elite teams? The Sixers were ridiculed for lack of adjustments and lack of ball movement in those losses. It’s all happening again.

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After a 110-107 loss to the Boston Celtics on Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center, the Sixers confirmed their identity as a team prone to go off script in pressure situations.

Embiid had 41 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, three blocks, and three turnovers in 39 minutes, 49 seconds. But the Sixers (39-20) struggled when he wasn’t on the floor.

“I didn’t think we moved the ball,” coach Doc Rivers said. “I don’t think we played with any rhythm in that stretch. And that’s something we haven’t been doing, but we did it tonight.

“Boston is great when you try to play them that way. They’re too good when you try to play them in [isolation].”

The Celtics (44-17) are long and athletic, switchable on defense, and can contest just about everything at the rim.

“And I thought they did that,” Rivers said.

The loss dropped the Sixers, who are third in the Eastern Conference standings, four games behind first-place Boston with 23 games remaining. They had a five-game winning streak snapped and lost for just the fourth time in their last 18 games.

The Sixers will look to bounce back in Monday’s home matchup against the Miami Heat. The contest will be the first of a two-game, home-and-away series against the Heat (32-29), losers of four straight and seven of their last 11.

So, at least on paper, this matchup against P.J. Tucker and Dewayne Dedmon’s former team should get the Sixers on the right track.

They do still have a few things to clean up. The Sixers can’t allow Harris to become a casualty when the ball sticks like it did Saturday night and in several other losses.

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The Sixers power forward played a major role in his team’s success in the first quarter. With the ball in his hands, Harris was in attack mode. Harris led all scorers in the quarter with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting — including making 2-of-3 three-pointers — while playing all 12 minutes.

“I just got the ball a couple of times, and I was able to get a good look,” he said. “I’m gonna be aggressive when I get the touches and in actions. And that was presented to me early on in the game.”

In the second quarter, Harris scored on his lone shot attempt — a driving finger roll — to give the Sixers a 56-49 lead with 1:29 before intermission. Then he scored the first two baskets of the third quarter on a 19-foot turnaround and a 26-foot three-pointer to put the Sixers up 11 points.

Harris missed a cutting layup at the 8:55 mark of the quarter and misfired on a three-pointer 2:18 later. That was his last shot attempt of the game.

The Sixers are at their best when Harden, who leads the league with 10.7 assists per game, plays the role of a distributor. However, he led the Sixers in shooting in the fourth quarter. He had nine points on 2-for-7 shooting, with his saving grace being a5-for-5 mark from the foul line.

Harden finished with 21 points on 5-for-16 shooting along with eight assists, six rebounds, three steals, and four turnovers.

Embiid was a warrior in the loss. For the most part, the All-Star center did a great job of making quick decisions instead of waiting for the Celtics’ double teams. However, he did have a tough turnover with 7:15 left. After stealing the ball, Jaylen Brown scored on a transition basket to put the Celtics up 10.

And, once again, the Sixers failed to adjust to the Celtics’ three-point shooting. The Celtics made 16-of-37 three-pointers. They made 19-of-35 against the Sixers on Feb. 8, and 12-of-35 on Oct. 18. Boston won those games due in large part to making clutch threes.

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They had to know that Boston would stick with what worked in the previous meetings. Yet, they left Al Horford wide open on most of his five three-pointers, repeating the mistake made when Blake Griffin also hit five three-pointers in their last meeting.

The Sixers are an elite team. Elite teams usually learn from their mistakes, and play better the next time they’re in a similar situation.

To their credit, the Sixers did battle back from a 10-point deficit after calling a timeout following Brown’s layup. They would have forced overtime had Embiid’s desperation three-pointer after the buzzer counted.

But even with the game on the line, the Sixers continued to play tight while abandoning the game plan.

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“When we got out there, we were able to cut the lead back down,” Harris said. “That gave us life. But even in those moments, I think as a whole group, we got to still be able to be mentally strong and know that we’re going to fight and give our all and come back into this game.

“So maybe that’s like another step of growth for our whole team, understanding because during that timeout, we didn’t have the best body language as a collective group. And we’re going to play games like that. This is a playoff basketball atmosphere and teams are going to make runs. But we have to sustain the runs.”

Shame on the Sixers.