Boston Celtics: 3 teams to root against at Disney World bubble games

During the upcoming Disney World bubble games, there will be a few teams Boston Celtics fans may want to root against.

With a little over a month to go before the NBA season returns, Boston Celtics fans are emotionally preparing for what could be the road to banner number 18.

Throughout the 2019-20 campaign, the shamrocks constantly proved to be one of the best teams the association has to offer. With a record of 43-21, Boston currently holds the third-seed in the Eastern Conference, the fifth seed in the entire league, and, subsequently, rank fifth in NBA.com’s most recent power rankings.

From their impressive record to their menacing core-group of ballers — Kemba Walker, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Gordon Hayward, and Marcus Smart — there’s no wonder as to why fans and analysts alike believe a deep postseason run is likely on the horizon for the Celtics.

However, despite the massive sense of confidence that exists, this is not to say that a few external blessings from the basketball gods themselves wouldn’t be appreciated. Of the eligible 22 teams heading to Orlando this July, there are a few that Boston Celtics fans may not want to see succeed.

In fact, in some specific instances, one team’s missteps could lead to good fortunes for the Cs as we move forward.

Read on to find out which teams heading to Orlando should be rooted against indefinitely by Celtics fans:

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…

Team to root against No. 2: Toronto Raptors

The inclusion of the Toronto Raptors has a decent amount to do with our major points in the first slide. It’s widely known that the Boston Celtics have struggled against the Philadelphia 76ers this season and, in turn — especially with expected rust — they likely will be a challenge once again should they face off in the first round of the playoffs.

A way of bypassing such a matchup would be if the Sixers were to stumble out of the gate and drop in the rankings to, say, the eighth-seed, while the Celtics remained stationary at the third-seed.

However, another route would be for Boston to thrust themselves even higher in the rankings and claim the second-seed in the Eastern Conference. However, in order for the Celtics to accomplish this feat, they would, one, need to attain as many wins as possible during the final eight games of the regular season and, two, need the Raptors to win no more than four games when returning to action for the final stretch of the regular season.

Currently holding a record of 46-18, Toronto sits, and has sat soundly in fourth place within the league’s power rankings and second in the conference standings. If seeding were to remain the same, the defending champs would be squaring off in a first-round bout against the Brooklyn Nets which, from the Boston Celtics’ perspective, would indefinitely be the easier matchup in the quarterfinals.

The Kevin Durant/ Kyrie Irving-less Nets are expected to be led by a main unit consisting of Spencer Dinwiddie, Caris LeVert, and Jarrett Allen. While they are certainly talented players in their own right, they do not hold the fire-power, nor the sheer length/ strength that the 76ers do and, in turn, would be a far more favorable option for the presumedly rusty Celtics to face-off against in round one.

Here’s to hoping that Boston comes out with guns blazing when they come back to action while the Raptors simply lose more games than they win!

Team to root against No. 3: Memphis Grizzlies

Easily one of the biggest storylines from the 2019-20 NBA season has been the amount of success the Memphis Grizzlies have found throughout the year.

Finishing 12th in the Western Conference standings in 2018-19, and after shipping off their two franchise centerpieces in Marc Gasol (delt right around the 2019 deadline) and Mike Conley (traded to Utah last offseason), coming into this year many analysts and basketball experts predicted the Grizzlies to have quite an underwhelming campaign and, with that, find themselves once again in the running for a high lottery pick like they did last year.

However, thanks in large to the excellence from their high lottery pick from last year, this has not turned out to be the “sure-fire” thing many expected it to be.

Through 65 games, Memphis currently finds themselves residing in the eighth seed in the Western Conference with a record of 32-33.

Led by Rookie of the Year candidate Ja Morant — 17.6 points, 6.9 assists, 3.5 rebounds on 49 percent shooting from the floor and 37 percent shooting from deep — the Grizz have managed to earn themselves a spot amongst the 22 eligible teams to participate in Orlando come late July and are one of the favorites to wind up making the postseason of those in the conference still vying for a final playoff spot — Portland, New Orleans, Sacramento, San Antonio, and Phoenix.

However, just because the oddsmakers deem them likely to make the playoffs, it doesn’t mean it’s a guarantee — after all, like we said earlier, they once saw them as a sure-fire lottery contender as well.

The reason why Boston Celtics fans should be rooting against Memphis’ playoff push is quite simple: if they miss out on the postseason, the Grizzlies will receive a better pick and, so long as it lands outside the top-6, said pick’s rights will belong to the Cs come draft night.

Better pick = higher chance of nabbing a great young talent in this upcoming draft — or more value for the pick in any future hypothetical trade talks.

Though they may not reside in the Eastern Conference, the Celtics and their fanbase have every reason to root against the Memphis Grizzlies for the remainder of the 2019-20 season.