The Philadelphia 76ers deserve to be proud of themselves for pulling off their miracle comeback over the Boston Celtics, but all of those efforts went into simply getting out of the first round, something they've done plenty of times. Now they've got their work cut out for them against the New York Knicks. If they don't rise to the challenge, or worse, not come close, the Celtics look even worse.
Many already had the Celtics-Knicks playoff rematch penciled in. Ironically, for a minute there, it looked like the opposite was going to happen, with the Knicks struggling to put the Hawks away, but New York flat-out dominated Atlanta the rest of the way. Unfortunately, the Celtics couldn't finish the deal to make their rendezvous.
Instead, it's the Sixers. No one's necessarily doubting what Philadelphia can or cannot do, but the Knicks won't have the same holes to exploit that the Celtics did, like their lack of frontcourt depth. Their starters can go tit for tat with Philadelphia's. New York also has an impressive bench, which is something Philadelphia definitely doesn't have.
It's not all bad for the Celtics, but for everything that went right this season, the playoffs went unmistakably sideways. If the Sixers give the Knicks a challenge, that's not so bad, but if they get embarrassed, Boston's going to look worse because it will further indicate they're not on the Knicks' level.
Now if the Sixers win, the opposite happens
If Philadelphia keeps the magic humming, then Boston doesn't look so bad. They were victims of playing against a team that happened to peak at the right time. That has happened before. Remember 10 years ago when everyone thought Golden State vs. San Antonio in the West was inevitable until the Oklahoma City Thunder started surging at the right time.
People would probably remember that more to this day if the Thunder had finished the job against the Warriors. The point is that the Sixers may have been much better than we all thought. Miami pulled off something exactly like this three years ago (they also beat the Knicks and Sixers to do it), so it's absolutely doable.
That would be the only solace from this catastrophic failure the Celtics just went through. In a way, Celtics fans should be rooting for the Sixers to spare them of some of this humiliation. Odds are, though, that history won't repeat itself with the Knicks.
Time will tell how this series plays out, but there's a solid chance the Knicks make the Celtics look worse for not finishing the job against the Sixers if all goes right for them.
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