The Sixer Sense
Fansided

Are the Boston Celtics in the Philadelphia 76ers heads?

By Bret Stuter

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - JANUARY 11: Robert Covington (33) of Philadelphia 76ers in action against Jayson Tatum (3rd L) of Boston Celtics during the NBA game between Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers at the O2 Arena in London, England on January 11, 2018. (Photo by Yunus Dalgic/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - JANUARY 11: Robert Covington (33) of Philadelphia 76ers in action against Jayson Tatum (3rd L) of Boston Celtics during the NBA game between Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers at the O2 Arena in London, England on January 11, 2018. (Photo by Yunus Dalgic/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) /
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The Boston Celtics extend their winning streak over the Philadelphia 76ers to three, with all victories at ten points or better. Are the Boston Celtics in the Sixers heads?

The Philadelphia 76ers may not be the best NBA team in the Eastern Conference, but I don’t believe this team is as poorly performing as their contests with the Boston Celtics demonstrate. The problem is that the Philadelphia 76ers compete in the NBA Eastern Conference. That means that the road to the NBA Championship must go through Boston at some point. And right now, the Boston Celtics clearly have the Philadelphia 76ers number.

The pattern has developed over the course of three games so far this season. On Friday, October 20, 2017, the Boston Celtics defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 102-92. A month later, on November 30, 2017, the Celtics once again throttled the 76ers 108-97. And now, before a sell-out London crowd, the Celtics came back from a 22 point deficit to win handily, 114-103. Three games, three easy wins.

What is the Celtics secret?

Now the question becomes, how do they do it? Are they simply a far superior team? Are the Boston Celtics simply a far better coached team? Or is it psychological? Are the Boston Celtics in the heads of the Philadelphia 76ers? The concerning answer lies in the fact that it may simply be all three factors. And that’s a huge mountain to overcome for these Philadelphia 76ers.

The first thing we cannot do is jump to any conclusions.  The Boston Celtics have won three straight convincingly, but there is a huge difference between three wins and a pattern of success based upon common elements.  In short, are the losses to the Celtics attributable to specific actions taken by the Celtics which repeat in each contest, or is this simply a slump of the Sixers which happens to fall on Celtics games?  Let’s investigate, shall we?