The NBA regular season has come to an end, but the Celtics don’t quite know who they’ll be facing in round one of the playoffs yet. Boston has locked up the 2-seed in the Eastern Conference after an incredible regular season, so they’ll take on the winner of the 7/8 play-in game.
That game will be contested on Wednesday night with the Philadelphia 76ers hosting the Orlando Magic. The game was expected to be on Tuesday night, but with the Magic’s loss to the Celtics on Sunday, Philly moved up to the 7-seed. The Flyers already had an NHL game scheduled for Tuesday night, so their play-in game was delayed by a day.
At times this season, both Philly and Orlando have looked dangerous, but neither one has consistently lived up to expectations. Ultimately, the Celtics should be able to take care of whichever team they play, but they could each pose some unique challenges.Â
Here’s a breakdown of what a matchup with the 76ers could look like.
Joel Embiid injury a major blow to 76ers
All year long, we’ve heard that a full-strength 76ers team could have a puncher’s chance in the playoffs. And for a fleeting moment\, it looked like everything was coming together for them. But just days ago, Joel Embiid required emergency appendix surgery and will be out indefinitely, almost certainly expected to miss a potential round one series.
With Embiid in the mix, the Sixers have proven to be dangerous, but without him, they still haven’t figured out how to play. Their other center options are Andre Drummond and Adem Bona, who shouldn’t pose much of a threat to the Celtics on either end of the floor.
Tyrese Maxey poses a problem for Boston
One player who will certainly lead the charge for Philly is Tyrese Maxey, who broke out as an All-NBA candidate this season. Small, quick-twitch guards like Maxey always give the Celtics problems, and he can create some serious issues for Boston’s drop coverage in pick-and-rolls.
Maxey getting hot and going nuclear is probably their best bet to hang in games, but he hasn’t looked the same since returning from a hand injury in late March, and the offensive burden he has been forced to carry all year may finally be catching up with him.
Without Embiid, the Cs can gear their whole game plan around stopping Maxey, throwing Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Payton Pritchard, and maybe even Baylor Scheierman or Jordan Walsh at him.
Sixers too slow and unathletic to keep up with Celtics
Outside of Maxey and with no Embiid, the Sixers don’t have a lot of other options to turn to. Paul George has looked good since returning from his suspension, but at this point in his career, asking him to be a first or second option on a regular basis may not be realistic.
As long as the Celtics can keep Maxey in check and make him work without completely compromising the rest of the defense, they should be able to limit the role players and make sure none of Quentin Grimes, Kelly Oubre, VJ Edgecombe, Justin Edwards, Dominick Barlow, and others beat them.
Sixers have no answers for the Jays
There aren’t many teams in the NBA that have a viable strategy for stopping Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, and the Sixers aren’t one of the exceptions. PG-13 is a shell of his old self defensively, and Oubre is just not strong enough.Â
As great as Maxey is offensively, he’s someone the 76ers would rather hide on defense (in his defense, he has gotten a lot better, but he’s still too small), and the Celtics won’t let that happen. Without Embiid, they don’t protect the rim well, and they don’t have elite perimeter defenders to keep drivers out of the lane.
On top of that, they tend to overhelp and give up open threes. That’s a recipe for disaster against the Celtics, who should have this defense constantly in rotation. Boston should be able to generate great looks no matter who’s on the floor, and the best the Sixers can do is hope for some rough shooting.
If the Celtics come into a series against the 76ers with the proper focus and attention to detail, there’s not much that Philly can do to stop them. They can hope that Maxey goes off and George finds the fountain of youth, but this has gentlemen's sweep written all over it.
Add us as a preferred source on Google