Though there\u2019s nothing unfamiliar about the Sixers\u2019 first-round playoff opponent, the team\u2019s upcoming series vs. the Celtics is still full of storylines.<\/p>\n
Before Game 1 Sunday afternoon in Boston<\/a>, here are 18 thoughts and tidbits on the series:\u00a0<\/p>\n 1. Boston isn\u2019t invincible, but the Celtics are very strong and just about everyone will reasonably pick them to win this series.<\/p>\n Since starting 5-7, Boston has gone 51-19. According to Cleaning the Glass<\/a>, the Celtics rank second in offensive rating outside of garbage time and fourth in defensive rating over those 70 games.\u00a0<\/p>\n Counting their play-in tournament win over the Magic<\/a>, the Sixers are 46-37. They won\u2019t need to force the underdog role whatsoever.<\/p>\n 2. As has been the case in plenty of prior postseasons, the great unknown is Joel Embiid.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Sixers\u2019 star center underwent an appendectomy last week<\/a> and is out indefinitely. Embiid\u2019s instinct has always been to rush back from injury in the playoffs, although appendicitis is obviously not a traditional basketball ailment. <\/p>\n For now, the Sixers haven\u2019t given any indications that Embiid has a targeted return date. They were happy to have him in attendance for Wednesday night\u2019s victory. Embiid stopped by the Sixers\u2019 locker room pregame and cheered from the bench.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d talked to him via phone and I was surprised to see him there,\u201d Tyrese Maxey said. \u201cI gave him a big hug. I\u2019m glad to see him and his spirits are high. We\u2019re happy for him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n 3. Embiid\u2019s on-court presence remains invaluable to the Sixers and he played at an All-Star level in many of his 38 games this season. The Sixers were 24-14 when he was available. Excluding the play-in, they went 21-23 without him.\u00a0<\/p>\n 4. The Sixers aren\u2019t satisfied just to have cracked the playoffs again. However, a year after enduring nonstop injuries and finishing 24-58, returning to the postseason is certainly meaningful.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI told the guys I\u2019m proud of them,\u201d Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said Wednesday. \u201cThere\u2019s many times this season I\u2019ve told them I\u2019m proud of them for how they kind of picked themselves up and kept playing. This was another example tonight with some stakes and some pressures. We played extremely hard. I thought we made a lot of winning plays.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd to go back to the opening press conference of the year, I said, \u2018We\u2019ve got a really, really big hole to dig out of and we want to get into the tournament somehow.\u2019 It wasn\u2019t easy and it wasn\u2019t pretty, but we\u2019re here and now we\u2019ve got to see what we can do with it.\u201d<\/p>\n 5. The Celtics and Sixers split their four-game series in the regular season. The first three games were all ultra-close and entertaining. On opening night, Maxey and VJ Edgecombe totaled 74 points and the Sixers stormed back to win in Boston.<\/a> The Sixers\u2019 speedy, tireless backcourt<\/a> would love to rekindle that magic in Game 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n 6. Watching the tape of the season series, it\u2019s remarkable that the Celtics had such an excellent year amid a rather high volume of roster and rotation changes. Xavier Tillman, Anfernee Simons, Josh Minott and Chris Boucher were all in the Celtics\u2019 rotation for the opener and they\u2019re no longer on the team.\u00a0<\/p>\n 7. By far the most notable in-season Celtics addition was Jayson Tatum. He\u2019s played 16 games since returning from a ruptured Achilles tendon and averaged 21.8 points, 10.0 rebounds and 5.3 assists. Even if he\u2019s a bit worse than his norm as a shooter and isn\u2019t incredibly explosive<\/a> in the playoffs, Tatum should clearly make the Celtics harder to beat.\u00a0<\/p>\n 8. Paul George also played zero of the four Sixers-Celtics regular-season games. He appeared in the Sixers\u2019 final 10 games of the season after serving a 25-game suspension for violating the NBA\u2019s anti-drug policy<\/a> and posted 21.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.2 steals per contest.<\/p>\n To upset the Celtics, we imagine the Sixers will need George to score in isolation, easing the offensive burden on Maxey; launch catch-and-shoot three-pointers and make a fair number; play high-quality defense on Boston\u2019s stars while avoiding foul trouble; and provide veteran steadiness to a Sixers rotation without much playoff experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s asking a lot, but George has shown signs post-suspension that he\u2019s much healthier and capable of playing like a star.\u00a0<\/p>\n 9. In sizing up the Celtics, George nicely captured the stiff test ahead.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re playing against winners,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re playing against champions. This is where they play their best basketball. We respect that. We\u2019re going to have to challenge that. They\u2019ve been great for a couple years now. They\u2019re a well-oiled machine.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cGreat coach, great roster. Two studs, two superstars over there and just a ton of guys that know how to play the right way. It\u2019s going to be a challenge. We\u2019ve just got to be ready for it.\u201d<\/p>\n Jaylen Brown\u2019s a five-time All-Star and Tatum\u2019s a six-time All-Star. Other important pieces from the Celtics\u2019 2023-24 championship-winning team are still in Boston, among them Derrick White and Payton Pritchard. Joe Mazzulla has a 238-90 record (72.6 winning percentage) in four years as head coach.\u00a0<\/p>\n 10. The Celtics have a well-earned reputation as a team that bombs away from long range. They were third in the NBA in three-point frequency.<\/a><\/p>\n Boston can also hurt the Sixers inside the arc, though. Both Brown and Pritchard torched the Sixers in the mid-range to propel the Celtics to a big first-half lead back on Halloween.<\/a> <\/p>\n If the Sixers get caught on screens, make small mistakes defending drivers, or fail to fully stop the ball in transition, the Celtics will take and make comfortable two-point looks.\u00a0<\/p>\n 11. The fact that Boston relied on its half-court offense more than any other team this season may be a small silver lining for the Sixers.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Celtics had the NBA\u2019s slowest pace.<\/a> They also ranked last in transition frequency, per Cleaning the Glass. <\/a>Mazzulla may very well encourage his team to play faster than usual and target the Sixers\u2019 transition defense, which has often struggled. But at their core, the Celtics lean heavily on their half-court offense.\u00a0<\/p>\n 12. As would be the case against almost any opponent, the Sixers\u2019 defensive rebounding is a serious concern.<\/p>\n They were 27th in the NBA in defensive rebounding rate<\/a>. The Celtics were fifth in offensive rebounding rate. Neemias Queta was dominant on the glass against Andre Drummond and the Sixers in Boston\u2019s March 1 win.<\/a> He posted a career-high 27 points, 17 rebounds (10 offensive) and three blocks.\u00a0<\/p>\n Queta\u2019s a true 7-footer and an outstanding athlete. Assuming Embiid stays out to start the series, the Sixers\u2019 center pair of Drummond and Adem Bona must be better against him, especially in the rebounding department.\u00a0<\/p>\n 13. Maxey\u2019s lingering right pinky finger injury shouldn\u2019t be an afterthought.\u00a0<\/p>\n As he acknowledged after the play-in win, that taped-up finger has been impacting his jumper. Although he wasn\u2019t his most efficient vs. Orlando \u2014 31 points on 11-for-25 shooting (3 for 9 from three-point range) \u2014 Maxey wasn\u2019t reluctant to fire.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just a comfort thing,\u201d Maxey said postgame. \u201cSometimes the ball feels a little different \u2026 but I\u2019m not going to make any excuse. The Indiana game<\/a>, I was trying to get up more threes just so I could see OK, where do I feel comfortable at? I\u2019ve got to shoot \u2018em and I\u2019ve got to make \u2018em for this team.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s how we win games and that\u2019s just my game. It helps me with everything else. \u2026 That\u2019s the biggest thing for me, comfort level. But I\u2019m comfortable. It is what it is. It\u2019s the playoffs and everybody\u2019s probably banged up.\u201d<\/p>\n 14. The Sixers only used a three-man bench vs. the Magic. That surely won\u2019t be sustainable (or optimal) for an entire best-of-seven series. Justin Edwards would be a logical addition to the rotation for this matchup.<\/p>\n At his best, Edwards is a competitive wing defender with a knack for finding and sinking open jumpers. He\u2019s unafraid to take important shots, too. The 22-year-old lefty had a memorable night vs. the Celtics on Nov. 11<\/a>, making his first eight field goals. He finally was off on a late go-ahead jumper attempt, but Kelly Oubre Jr. snagged the rebound and made a put-back lay-in.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cGame-winning miss,\u201d Edwards said.\u00a0<\/p>\n 15. Some of the defensive assignments are easy to predict. For instance, as he did in the regular season<\/a>, Oubre will spend a ton of possessions guarding Brown.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll also highlight Jordan Walsh\u2019s defense on Maxey as a significant, intriguing option for Boston. According to NBA.com, Maxey shot 1 for 9 with Walsh defending him in that Nov. 11 game.<\/a> Walsh has a tenacious approach <\/a>and a 7-2 wingspan.\u00a0<\/p>\n 16. During the Embiid era, the Sixers have lost series to the Celtics in 2018 (4-1), 2020 (4-0) and 2023 (4-3). Their last series win over Boston was 44 years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n 17. There was a lot for the Sixers to like from that 2023 second-round series until they got blown out in Game 7.\u00a0<\/p>\n James Harden was magnificent on multiple occasions, including a 45-point performance in an Embiid-less Game 1 win<\/a> and a 42-point outing in the Sixers\u2019 overtime Game 4 victory.<\/a> Embiid raised the MVP trophy<\/a> at home before Game 3. Role players like De\u2019Anthony Melton<\/a>, Georges Niang<\/a> and Danuel House Jr.<\/a> had bright moments.\u00a0<\/p>\n Of course, it didn\u2019t quite add up to enough. The Sixers failed to finish off the Celtics in Game 6 and played a terrible third quarter in Game 7. They were left to wonder what would\u2019ve happened against the eighth-seeded Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals.\u00a0<\/p>\n 18. The one player in the series who\u2019s been both a Sixer and a Celtic<\/a> is 35-year-old Boston big man Nikola Vucevic.\u00a0<\/p>\n On the executive side, Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey started his NBA career with the Celtics. Assistant general manager Jameer Nelson had a six-game playing stint as a Celtic during the 2014-15 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sixers assistant coach Mike Longabardi won a title with the 2007-08 Celtics. Mazzulla has several former Sixers coaches on his staff in Sam Cassell, DJ MacLeay and Tyler Lashbrook<\/a>. Cassell grew close with Maxey during his Sixers years and played a major part in him developing into a superstar.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Though there\u2019s nothing unfamiliar about the Sixers\u2019 first-round playoff opponent, the team\u2019s upcoming series vs. the Celtics is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":712363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3769],"tags":[679,7,75,936,6,11,526,678,207,3817,5902,4186,1263],"class_list":{"0":"post-712362","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-76ers","8":"tag-76ers","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-boston-celtics","11":"tag-joel-embiid","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-nba-playoffs","14":"tag-paul-george","15":"tag-philadelphia","16":"tag-philadelphia-76ers","17":"tag-philadelphia76ers","18":"tag-sixers-analysis","19":"tag-sixers-news","20":"tag-tyrese-maxey"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116419634373056158","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=712362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/712363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}