The Boston Celtics are set to face off against the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 2 of their first round playoff series on Tuesday night.
The Celtics are heavily favored in this one once again. They’re 14 point favorites, and as of right now, nearly 90% of all bets placed on the game are in favor of the Celtics. And the 76ers are again expected to be without center Joel Embiid after he recently underwent an emergency appendectomy.
“You know, you can win and play poorly, you can lose and play great. So we just kind of, you know, have an understanding of when we’re at our best, we have an understanding of where we can be better,” head coach Joe Mazzulla said. “We’ve had big wins. We’ve had to come in and watch the film and show we’ve had to get better. We’ve had tough losses. We’ve hadcome in and had to show things that we’ve had to get better. That just remains the same.”
“Just everybody is committed to the same goal,” Celtics guard Derrick White said. “Everybody comes in and has the same mindset. You get a chance to play in the Boston Garden in front of the great fans, and like, this is the responsibility that you get to have and so I think just changing your mindset of, ‘Oh, I have to do this’ versus, like, ‘I get to.’ I think it’s something that we all kind of look forward to.”
The Celtics have made it past the first round in each of the last five seasons, and this year, fans expect no different.
They dismantled the 76ers in the last game, scoring a 123-91 victory behind 26 points from Jaylen Brown. Tyrese Maxey led Philadelphia with 21.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.