After a 5-3 record to finish the eight game regular season at the NBA bubble in Orlando, Florida, the Boston Celtics are now preparing for a first round best of seven playoff series with the Philadelphia 76ers beginning Monday night.
Boston (48-24) finished third in the Eastern Conference behind Milwaukee and Toronto, as they face their rival and sixth seeded 76ers from Philadelphia. Like alot of other teams invited to Orlando for what ended up being seeding games for some, the Celtics with the four month hiatus seem to be back working at close to full health and playing some of their better basketball at the right time.
Bostons big three Jayson Tatum, Kemba Walker, and Jaylen Brown have again carried the Celtics to the third place finish. Tatum and Brown both had a few big games during the restart. Tatum bounced back after a 2-18 shooting night in their first game back in a loss to Milwaukee. Walker has been used sparingly as coach Brad Stevens has been cautious as the guard is coming back after a knee injury. The green have also been getting good play out of Gordon Hayward, Marcus Smart, and Daniel Theis. The bench has also been contributing with the likes of Brad Wanamaker, Robert Williams III, and Semi Ojeleye.
Philadelphia (43-30) on the other side though has been battling injury problems of their own. Ben Simmons isn’t coming back after season ending knee surgery, and despite a hand injury Joel Embiid is expected to play. The 76ers won three of four regular season meetings with the Celtics, but this series will be real difficult for Philly with the injury problems. Veteran center Al Horford, and guards Tobias Harris and Shake Milton will need to step up big in a relief role of Simmons production. The 76ers went 4-4 since play picked back up for them on August 1.
Prediction- Boston should not have a problem in this series, as they have been playing their best basketball of late and Philadelphia has not. The loss of Simmons is huge, with Embiid also not being at 100%. Expect the Celtics to march their way to the second round. Celtics in 5 games.
#3 Boston vs #6 Philadelphia schedule:
Game 1- Monday Aug 17 6:30 p.m. (Boston home team)
Game 2- Wednesday Aug 19 6:30 p.m. (Boston home team)
Game 3- Friday Aug 21 6:30 p.m. (Philadelphia home team)
Game 4- Sunday Aug 23 1 p.m. (Philadelphia home team)
*Game 5- Tuesday Aug 25 time to be determined (Boston home team)
*Game 6- Thursday Aug 27 time to be determined (Philadelphia home team)
*Game 7- Saturday Aug 29 time to be determined (Boston home team)
*- if necessary
