The Boston Celtics cleanly swept the Philadelphia 76ers in a decisive sweep. That has opened pandora’s box for some difficult roster questions…
With the joy of a dominant victory now in the rearview for the Boston Celtics, the obvious focus is on their upcoming Eastern Conference semifinals matchup with the defending champion Toronto Raptors.
They are quite a different beast than the Philadelphia 76ers they just conquered so easily. The most obvious difference is the lack of turmoil in Toronto’s locker room. Riding high off the franchise’s first championship, the Raptors feature a veteran-laden locker room with professionals like Kyle Lowry, Marc Gasol, and Serge Ibaka as well as budding stars in Paskal Siakam, Fred VanVleet and (to a lesser degree) OG Anounoby.
Philadelphia had talent, in the form of All-Stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons and have fringe/former All-Stars like Tobias Harris, Al Horford, and (also to a lesser degree) Josh Richardson, but the fit was never there…even when Simmons was healthy in 2019-20.
When it comes to fit on the Raptors, the conversation starts at ring sizes. The cohesive basketball Toronto head coach Nick Nurse gets his guys to play is a far cry from the unimaginative Embiid post-ups Brett Brown drew up in the postseason’s first round.
With the series win against Philadelphia being so decisive, and the Boston Celtics not missing a beat since a certain key injury in game one, there is a particularly uncomfortable question the Houdini needs to address…
Here is the argument for and against Gordon Hayward being expendable following their series sweep of the Sixers: