Congratulations are in order to the 76ers, who own the most embarrassing pair of back-to-back losses in Philadelphia sports history.

There aren’t enough fingers to point at who’s to blame after Philadelphia blew a 26-point lead in Game 5, only a few short days after giving up an 18-point lead in Game 4.

The Eastern Conference No. 1 seed suddenly trails its semifinal series with Atlanta, 3-2.

During the last two fourth-quarter meltdowns, Joel Embiid shot 1-10 from the floor, Tobias Harris 0-5 and Ben Simmons 0-0. Yikes.

Ben Simmons, not good

Whether or not you want to hear it, Simmons is a major detriment to the 76ers’ offense - and this is nothing new.

The “superstar” who most of the fan base has aggressively defended since being drafted No. 1 overall in 2016, decided not to take a single shot in either of the catastrophic fourth-quarter losses.

Simmons is a great defender, but does it matter when the entire league switches on every ball-screen anyway? How many times has Simmons defended Trae Young, only for Young to call over a teammate being watched by Furkan Korkmaz to force a switch? Many times, and it’s easy as pie for Atlanta.

Both opposing coaches the 76ers have faced in the playoffs - Scott Brooks and Nate McMillan - did not keep the “hack-a-Shaq” strategy a secret. It’s the same plan deployed to halt offenses with pathetic foul shooters such as DeAndre Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal years ago. If you’re not a hoops fan, the strategy calls for an intentional foul, forcing Simmons to shoot free throws, instead of giving his team a normal offensive possession.

Despite the effective strategy, Doc Rivers has elected to keep Simmons on the court most of the time throughout these grueling, important and frustrating scenarios.

Simmons shot 4-or-14 from the foul line in Game 5 and is now shooting a putrid 32 percent from the foul line in the playoffs - a feat only a kindergärdner would be proud of.

The 76ers have been playing 4-on-5 halfcourt offense for two years with Simmons on the floor and still managed to win many regular season games, which is impressive. But we’ve seen time-after-time, when Embiid is wiped out by the fourth quarter, Philly is forced to rely on the streaky play of Harris and a handful of role players to preserve any lead - or to win a game.

Simmons fully deserves to be put on blast right now, as the stakes are the highest they’ve ever been.

With an NBA championship within reach for the first time in 20 years, there’s no more coddling or holding back. In the playoffs, it’s impossible to apply makeup to the ugly flaws of any team. You can’t hide anymore.

“At this point, it’s very difficult to not look at the two men making over $300 million,” said Jared Schnell, a Lehighton graduate who resides in Jim Thorpe with his wife and kids.

“They have seven shots combined in second halves of the last two games. It’s inexcusable. And yes, that’s Tobias and Ben - but I more so blame Ben. This whole thing was contingent upon having two superstars. Right now, he’s the best role player in the league. Role players help you win championships. But in this star driven league, they don’t win you championships.”

I don’t care about the advanced metrics, the plus-minus numbers and all of that. I study enough analytics, but the line has to be drawn in the sand somewhere regarding Simmons.

My phone exploded on Wednesday with texts from friends and colleagues that said, “you were right about Simmons.”

The bottom line is Simmons is a great defensive player and distributor. Nothing more - he is a star with flaws who can only excel in the right system - and this isn’t it.

Coaching and bench?

The Sixers have been notorious for losing games in which they owned double-digit leads dating back to the Brett Brown era. Although it seems like Rivers has the respect of the players and a better grip on the locker room, clearly, the coaching change from Brown to Rivers hasn’t mattered much. Same team, same flaws.

Rivers continues to use many bodies in the 76ers’ rotation, despite the league-wide norm to condense it in the playoffs.

Calling the second unit awful is an understatement. The bench has been outscored and outperformed by a considerable margin many times this postseason.

“The second unit was brutal,” said Lehighton boys basketball coach Trevor Miller. “We all look at Ben, Tobias, Joel, but the collapse started with the second unit. Joel and many of the starters came out with the Sixers holding a 23-point lead. I believe they thought they were done for the night, only to see that lead wiped away.

“When they came back in there was no rhythm. Seemed like they were checked out. It’s hard to refocus after you’ve completely dominated a team, then get thrown back in and have to do it again.”

Where in the world is Tyrese Maxey? This is the player who was “too valuable” to give up in any James Harden deal a few months ago - according to many 76ers armchair general managers.

I agree, Maxey’s ceiling is very high. But packaging Simmons and Maxey for the NBA’s most prolific scorer doesn’t sound so bad right now, does it? Other than Embiid, the future of anyone else on the current roster doesn’t matter, considering 2021 is the 76ers’ greatest opportunity to hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy in many decades.

Watching it live

Watching each lead evaporate on television was numbing, but Lehighton native J.T. Keer was at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia for the historical Game 5 collapse.

“The mood changed when John Collins banked in a three-pointer. All of the energy came out of the arena despite being in the lead. It was basically like a church the rest of the game,” Keer said.“I woke up this morning, staring at the ceiling and my chest was pounding. Wow, that really happened last night.”

Other head-scratchers

• In the final 17-plus minutes of action of Game 5, Harris attempted one field goal. Simmons didn’t have any in the second half.

• Simmons has missed 45 foul shots in 10 games during the playoffs. Ouch. To put that into perspective, as a team, Atlanta has collectively missed 35 and Brooklyn has missed only 22.

• Seth Curry might be the 76ers’ most consistent player right now. Curry dropped 36 on Wednesday and scored 30 in round one against Washington. How much trouble would Philly be in if Curry wasn’t playing so far over his head?

What’s next for the 76ers?

Schnell agreed - the longer Simmons struggles, the more his trade value will decline.

“You need guys that can put the ball on the floor and score with the shot clock winding down. That’s how you win, and it’s tough to get from a center,” Schnell added.

Embiid’s prime years could be over sooner than later - it’s terrifying every time he lands on the ground. A gigantic human like that shouldn’t be able to move in ways that he does. But all good things eventually come to an end. A reasonable range of outcome could be a 3–to-5-year window with this generational talent. Of course, it could be more or less.

It’s sad to say, but if you simply swapped Simmons’ jersey with Atlanta’s 6-6 offensive wing Bogdan Bogdanovic, this series would be wrapped up.

Perhaps Philly’s best bet is to acquire someone of a lesser overall talent than Simmons, such as Bogdanovic for example, but who is superior in shot creating and shooting. At this point, one could argue that a player like Bogdanovic carries more value than Simmons.

It’s past due for general manager Daryl Morey to give up on what Simmons could be, and land someone who is competent enough offensively in the halfcourt offense - who doesn’t rely on fastbreak points to score.

Morey is a notoriously aggressive GM and I would anticipate some sort of blockbuster trade involving Simmons during the offseason - regardless of the team’s outcome this week.

Whether or not the 76ers win the series against Atlanta, or even the NBA championship, there will be many issues and challenges that need to be addressed.

If the Nets, Clippers, Jazz or Suns were 100 percent healthy, Philadelphia has no businesses in a seven-game series with any of them at this very moment. But with nearly every team remaining decimated with injuries, the window is somehow still every-so-slightly cracked for a minuscule ray of optimism that Philly can regroup and move on.

The 76ers have essentially punched themselves in the face twice this week, and are one final jab away from being knocked out.

Would coming back to win the series make everything better, or just prolong what seems to be an inevitable loss to a team with fewer flaws? If there is a Game 7 at Wells Fargo - and it turns into another gut-wrenching embarrassment - the Philly faithful has my endorsement (for whatever that’s worth) to boo the Sixers right off the court.

They deserve it.