ECSF: P1 | (2) Boston Celtics vs Philadelphia 76ers (3) | BOS 1-0

[Hipster Doofus]

At least Boston has Baynes and Monroe to at least try and keep Embiid out of the paint.

Milwaukee only has Thin Maker...

[eagereyez]

I predicted Sixers over Heat in 5. I gave them a game because I knew Embiid would miss a few. This second round matchup won't be too different.

Sixers over Celtics in 5
Sixers over Bucks in 4

[ric munchn]

Philly will be more talented than either team. Against Boston they will have to play well to win. I think they have a decent chance to make the finals actually.

[sfernald]

Assuming Celtics make it (which isn’t a given):

This will be a great rivalry-building series. It will be a face-off of Phily’s generational rookies vs Celtics hot young guns.

Obviously Phily has a huge talent advantage but Boston plays with heart and guts and will not just lay down easily.

Phily is now used to playoff basketball however and Boston’s well coached, gritty team play will be no surprise to them.

Let’s look at the starting lineups:

Young King >>>>>>>>> Scary Terry
Redick = Brown
Cov = Tatum
SuperDario >>>>> Ojeleye
Phantom >>>>>>> Horford

So just from this I would say Celtics in big trouble.

[Gant]

Assuming Celtics make it (which isn’t a given):

This will be a great rivalry-building series. It will be a face-off of Phily’s generational rookies vs Celtics hot young guns.

Obviously Phily has a huge talent advantage but Boston plays with heart and guts and will not just lay down easily.

Phily is now used to playoff basketball however and Boston’s well coached, gritty team play will be no surprise to them.

Let’s look at the starting lineups:

Young King >>>>>>>>> Scary Terry
Redick = Brown
Cov = Tatum
SuperDario >>>>> Ojeleye
Phantom >>>>>>> Horford

So just from this I would say Celtics in big trouble.

Preface by saying Milwaukee's still in this...

Ojeleye was a Giannis induced start. If he ever did the same vs Philly it wouldn't be to match up with Saric, but rather it would be later in the series for a different defensive look on Simmons.

Baynes has done pretty well defensively on Embiid, so he'll likely start unless or until that doesn't work, which slides Horford to the other matchup.

Smart or Morris might start also. It's all hard to forecast with Boston changing lineups for matching purposes so regularly.

...and it's agreed, lets not look too far ahead of the Bucks yet.

[Patches Perry]

Boston vs. Philly will make a great series. Milwaukee is cool because of Giannis but I think Philly squares them away pretty quickly. I can see Boston giving Philly problems.

[Mister Ze]

I also think Boston matches up better with Philly. They're among the best defensive teams and have the depth to compete with Philly.

Can't say the same about the Bucks who'd probably have Jason Terry on Marco Belinelli off the bench.

[bebopdeluxe]

Assuming Celtics make it (which isn’t a given):

This will be a great rivalry-building series. It will be a face-off of Phily’s generational rookies vs Celtics hot young guns.

Obviously Phily has a huge talent advantage but Boston plays with heart and guts and will not just lay down easily.

Phily is now used to playoff basketball however and Boston’s well coached, gritty team play will be no surprise to them.

Let’s look at the starting lineups:

Young King >>>>>>>>> Scary Terry
Redick = Brown
Cov = Tatum
SuperDario >>>>> Ojeleye
Phantom >>>>>>> Horford

So just from this I would say Celtics in big trouble.

I am a Sixers fan, but I would give Brown (who has really stepped up his game) and Tatum a slight edge over Redick and Cov. However I think the additions to our bench push that to a draw, and Simmons/Embiid is a HUGE edge over their matchups.

I respect the Celtics (even though I am biologically wired to HATE them) and Stevens...but I see the Sixers in 6.

[GeorgeMarcus]

Assuming Celtics make it (which isn’t a given):

This will be a great rivalry-building series. It will be a face-off of Phily’s generational rookies vs Celtics hot young guns.

Obviously Phily has a huge talent advantage but Boston plays with heart and guts and will not just lay down easily.

Phily is now used to playoff basketball however and Boston’s well coached, gritty team play will be no surprise to them.

Let’s look at the starting lineups:

Young King >>>>>>>>> Scary Terry
Redick = Brown
Cov = Tatum
SuperDario >>>>> Ojeleye
Phantom >>>>>>> Horford

So just from this I would say Celtics in big trouble.

I am a Sixers fan, but I would give Brown (who has really stepped up his game) and Tatum a slight edge over Redick and Cov. However I think the additions to our bench push that to a draw, and Simmons/Embiid is a HUGE edge over their matchups.

I respect the Celtics (even though I am biologically wired to HATE them) and Stevens...but I see the Sixers in 6.

Brown over Reddick I'm fine with but I disagree with Tatum over Covington at this point. Roco's defensive impact is just so important.

[sfernald]

Assuming Celtics make it (which isn’t a given):

This will be a great rivalry-building series. It will be a face-off of Phily’s generational rookies vs Celtics hot young guns.

Obviously Phily has a huge talent advantage but Boston plays with heart and guts and will not just lay down easily.

Phily is now used to playoff basketball however and Boston’s well coached, gritty team play will be no surprise to them.

Let’s look at the starting lineups:

Young King >>>>>>>>> Scary Terry
Redick = Brown
Cov = Tatum
SuperDario >>>>> Ojeleye
Phantom >>>>>>> Horford

So just from this I would say Celtics in big trouble.

I am a Sixers fan, but I would give Brown (who has really stepped up his game) and Tatum a slight edge over Redick and Cov. However I think the additions to our bench push that to a draw, and Simmons/Embiid is a HUGE edge over their matchups.

I respect the Celtics (even though I am biologically wired to HATE them) and Stevens...but I see the Sixers in 6.

Brown over Reddick I'm fine with but I disagree with Tatum over Covington at this point. Roco's defensive impact is just so important.

I will say Redick has really upped his game in this playoffs. He is pretty much their top scorer right now isn’t he?

[hookshot199]

It's funny cause he's had 1 good game against us out of 4. So has Simmons and we're the best team in the league at defending the 3 point line(Smart is back which helps too).

Not sure why the regular season should be relevant.

Philly is completely different team than it was back then.

Also, you don't have Kyrie.

Also, its the playoffs.

Our defense is still the same tho, so is our 3 point defense, which makes your point irrelevant. Also if you don't wanna take anything into consideration meaning facts it means you can say whatever you want but it's your opinion, not reality. Both Simmons and Embiid shot the ball awfully against us sans 1 game.

We will see. I don't expect anyone to pick us so I understand where you're coming from. We still have games vs the Bucks so too soon to talk.

Yes and no. I'm absolutely scared of your defense, especially in the Garden. However, our shooting corps is now 6'10 (Saric), 6'10' (Ilyasova), 6'9" (Covington), 6'5" (Belenelli) and 6'4" (Redick). And these are all .350-400 shooters from the 3-pt. line.

[GeorgeMarcus]

I am a Sixers fan, but I would give Brown (who has really stepped up his game) and Tatum a slight edge over Redick and Cov. However I think the additions to our bench push that to a draw, and Simmons/Embiid is a HUGE edge over their matchups.

I respect the Celtics (even though I am biologically wired to HATE them) and Stevens...but I see the Sixers in 6.

Brown over Reddick I'm fine with but I disagree with Tatum over Covington at this point. Roco's defensive impact is just so important.

I will say Redick has really upped his game in this playoffs. He is pretty much their top scorer right now isn’t he?

Arguably- Simmons/Reddick/Belinelli/Saric/Embiid were all averaging between 18-20 ppg going into last night's game. Reddick is a very good scorer but doesn't offer much in the way of defense or play making.

[Filthadelphia]

Boston Celtics:
on DEC 31, 2017: 30-10
Since (including playoffs): 28-19

Sixers:
on DEC 31, 2017: 17-19
Since: 39-12

Sixers led by a 24 yr old and 21 yr old with a compressed schedule have ran through the league in 2018. The only teams better than then in the last 4+ months are GS and Hou.

Boston is a tier below us. Even with Hayward/Kyrie I still think they'd take them.

Sixers are top 5 offense and defensive team. Celts even with Kyrie were an average offense at best.

We'll beat them and their fans will spend the whole offseason telling us how a tandem of Kyrie and Gordon Hayward is somehow good enough to compete for a title.

[Celts17Pride]

Boston Celtics:
on DEC 31, 2017: 30-10
Since (including playoffs): 28-19

Sixers:
on DEC 31, 2017: 17-19
Since: 39-12

It would be tough to find anything more irrelevant than this. Means less than zero.

[sfernald]

Boston Celtics:
on DEC 31, 2017: 30-10
Since (including playoffs): 28-19

Sixers:
on DEC 31, 2017: 17-19
Since: 39-12

Sixers led by a 24 yr old and 21 yr old with a compressed schedule have ran through the league in 2018. The only teams better than then in the last 4+ months are GS and Hou.

Boston is a tier below us. Even with Hayward/Kyrie I still think they'd take them.

Sixers are top 5 offense and defensive team. Celts even with Kyrie were an average offense at best.

We'll beat them and their fans will spend the whole offseason telling us how a tandem of Kyrie and Gordon Hayward is somehow good enough to compete for a title.

I don’t know if it will be a sweep though or if somehow the Celtics manage to eek out one game on their ugly parquet floor.

[Snotbubbles]

Boston Celtics:
on DEC 31, 2017: 30-10
Since (including playoffs): 28-19

Sixers:
on DEC 31, 2017: 17-19
Since: 39-12

It would be tough to find anything more irrelevant than this. Means less than zero.

Exactly.

He should have just used the Celtics record since Kyrie went out since that is the caliber of team the Sixers would be facing: 11-8

Sixers last 19: 18-1

[bebopdeluxe]

Boston Celtics:
on DEC 31, 2017: 30-10
Since (including playoffs): 28-19

Sixers:
on DEC 31, 2017: 17-19
Since: 39-12

It would be tough to find anything more irrelevant than this. Means less than zero.

I think that is a bit of an overstatement. 39-and-12 is 39-and-12.

If you think that going from 17-19 to 39-12 means "less than zero", then there really is nothing else to say. Bye.

[hookshot199]

Boston Celtics:
on DEC 31, 2017: 30-10
Since (including playoffs): 28-19

Sixers:
on DEC 31, 2017: 17-19
Since: 39-12

It would be tough to find anything more irrelevant than this. Means less than zero.

I think that is a bit of an overstatement. 39-and-12 is 39-and-12.

If you think that going from 17-19 to 39-12 means "less than zero", then there really is nothing else to say. Bye.

The Celtics played a soft schedule early. We played a soft schedule late. Without reviewing game by game and doing a statistical analysis, it probably is the biggest factor in explaining how close the teams really are.

[Hipster Doofus]

Just looked at the box scores from the PHI/BOS series this year.

Good lord, the Sixers had Bayless, Holmes, TLC, Booker and Stauskas coming off the bench for them. Hot garbage.

Damn, can't believe that was just a few months ago. Currently:

Bayless - angry bench cheerleader
TLC - happy bench cheerleader
Stauskas - happy online Sixers cheerleader
Booker - chillin in Indiana

The bench has been completely revamped.

[LordCovington33]

Just looked at the box scores from the PHI/BOS series this year.

Good lord, the Sixers had Bayless, Holmes, TLC, Booker and Stauskas coming off the bench for them. Hot garbage.

Damn, can't believe that was just a few months ago. Currently:

Bayless - angry bench cheerleader
TLC - happy bench cheerleader
Stauskas - happy online Sixers cheerleader
Booker - chillin in Indiana

The bench has been completely revamped.

Staukas - happy Sixers spectator