Team to root against No. 1: Philadelphia 76ers
To start things off we have the team that Boston Celtics fans have loathed for the better part of their allegiance so, frankly, rooting against Philadelphia should be an absolute breeze.
If the playoffs were to start today, Boston would be squaring off against the 76ers for their first seven-game series. With how things transpired in the regular season — Philly won the season series three games to one — this matchup may not be the most favorable for the Cs to kick things off.
Fortunately for the Celtics, when the NBA comes back to action on July 30th, all 22 franchises that qualified for the Disney World bubble will take part in eight “seeding” exhibition games prior to the playoffs to determine conference standings and, in turn, playoff matchups.
Being bested in both the rebounding (205 vs 154) and blocks (23 vs 12) departments while also losing the scoring efficiency battle (Philly shot 45 percent from the field & 33 percent from deep while Cs shot 43 percent & 32 percent from 3) it was evident that the Boston Celtics had their work cut out for them on both ends of the court when facing Philadelphia this season.
As we mentioned in a recent article, when the season officially resumes, play could be a bit sloppy right out of the gates. Because of this, players will likely look to perform using more of a rough-and-tough/ bully-ball style of game, forcing their way into the paint for buckets rather than rely on their out-of-rhythm shooting strokes from mid-to-long-range.
With all this in mind, the towering Sixers — oft consisting of a starting lineup with no players under 6-5, two players (including their point guard) in the 6-10 range and a legitimate seven-footer — may benefit the most when returning from the four-month hiatus.
Being Boston’s tallest player — 6-10 Enes Kanter — is a career defensive liability, and their main security blanket down low is just 6-8, 245-pounds — Daniel Theis –, in terms of a physical matchup the Philadelphia 76ers would be a big challenge for the Cs to face in the first round, similar to how they were for them throughout the 2019-20 season already.
Would it be impossible for the shamrocks to beat Philly in a seven-game series? Absolutely not! However, if they could somehow bypass them in the beginning of the postseason and get back into the swing of things against a more desirable matchup, that would be a better introductory to the Orlando games.
A way for this to happen is by the Sixers dropping a few extra games during the final regular-season stretch and fall a bit in the standings, while Boston stays put in the third-seed or, even better, rise in the rankings.
Which brings us to our next team to root against…