Celtics Set To Play 76ers In First Round Of NBA Playoffs
BOSTON (CBS) -- It is finally official. The Celtics will square off against the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.
It's a matchup we've seen plenty of over the last, say, 60 years, but one we'll never get sick of. Now, one of the NBA's oldest rivalries will add another chapter to its history book in the NBA bubble down in Orlando, with the three-seeded Celtics taking on the six-seeded 76ers to open the postseason.
The matchup is set after the Pacers beat the Rockets on Wednesday, sending the 76ers to the six-seed. Philadelphia also lost to the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday, dropping its third straight game and falling to 3-4 in bubble action. The Celtics, meanwhile, have won four straight and are 5-2 in the bubble. Boston will be able to rest its star players in Thursday's regular season wrap-up against the Washington Wizards, with their playoff series against Philly set to begin next week.
The 76ers took three of the four regular season matchups against the Celtics, but those games feel like eons ago. And both teams have changed quite a bit since they last squared off on February 1 -- a 116-95 win by the Celtics in Boston. Philly's wins came on Opening Night in October (107-93 in Philadelphia), December (115-109 in Boston) and January (109-98 in Philadelphia).
While the Celtics struggled against Philadelphia's size in each of their losses -- with Joel Embiid averaging 21 points and 10 rebounds and Al Horford averaging 14 and 6 -- you can essentially throw those results out the window. Philadelphia is back to being a Jekyll and Hyde squad, looking like either a great team or a dumpster fire, and now they'll have to face a red hot Boston team without Ben Simmons. Philadelphia will be without their starting point guard throughout the playoffs after Simmons had knee surgery last week. Mix in some uncertainty about Embiid, who was already dealing with a knee issue that cost him a game before leaving Wednesday's loss with a wrist injury, and Philadelphia is no longer much of a feared foe for the Celtics.
That's not to say the series will be a complete walk in the park. Embiid's wrist is expected to be OK and his ankle may be fine come next week. The Philly big has been a Celtics killer for most of his career. Any time he struggled against the Celtics, it was because Al Horford had locked him up. With Horford now a Sixer, that will fall on Daniel Theis and potentially Robert Williams.
Plus, Philadelphia still has leading scorer Tobias Harris, who has averaged 20 points per game this season, and shooting guard Josh Richardson, who averaged 14 points per contest off 43 percent shooting.
But the Celtics certainly seemed poised to go on a deep playoff run with the way they've played over the last week, and should be able to handle a beat-up 76ers team. Jayson Tatum looks like he did in February, Jaylen Brown and Gordon Hayward have both played excellent in the bubble, and Kemba Walker looks healthy again. Given Philadelphia's current state, this once-unappealing first-round matchup now looks a lot more like an appetizing first-round matchup for a team eager to do a lot more in the playoffs.
The winner of the Sixers-Celtics series will advance to face either two-seeded Toronto Raptors or seven-seeded Brooklyn Nets in the second round.
