Two-time All-NBA star’s message to Boston Celtics ahead of second matchup

Julius Randle had a message for the Boston Celtics ahead of the New York Knicks and C’s November 13 matchup, the second of the season between the Atlantic Division rivals, letting them know that NY owes them a receipt for the opening night win for the green team.

“We owe ’em one,” Randle said (h/t New York Post). “But they’re a great team. We’ve got to put our best foot forward, recover [on November 12], get ready because it’s going to be a battle.”

RJ Barrett (“Very important game”) and Jalen Brunson (“Be Better”) had less descriptive answers, but the gravity of the second matchup of the season, this time on the TD Garden parquet, is not lost on a rising Eastern Conference contender looking to cement themselves as a true rival to the Celtics.

Philadelphia 76ers the team the Boston Celtics must worry about the most

Ever since the James Harden trade, the Philadelphia 76ers have not lost a single game; steamrolling the Association to the tune of 7-0 in November since the Halloween day deal.

Turns out the Sixers dealing Harden was the scariest thing about that day.

Harden being away from Philadelphia makes them a scarier challenge for the Celtics, and already, the Sixers have been able to beat Boston in their first matchup of the season. With a healthy reigning MVP in Joel Embiid, a rising star in Tyrese Maxey who has eclipsed the 25-point-per-game mark in 2023-24, and sterling tertiary efforts from Tobias Harris (19.9 PPG) and Kelly Oubre Jr. (16.3 PPG), there may not be a group in the association clicking on more cylinders than Philly’s right now.

The Cs have a live threat in Philadelphia for potentially the first time in the “Process” era, and it’s the Sixers, not the Knicks, that Boston must worry about come playoff time.