Philadelphia 76ers: Ranking possible first-round playoff opponents

Hardest Matchup: Boston Celtics

Season series: 3-0, Celtics (one more game on March 20)

The Philadelphia 76ers have faced the Boston Celtics with all three variations of the team this season, and while the losses became closer over time, Philly still has not beaten Boston since they stole a game in last year’s 4-1 series win for the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The Celtics have fought chemistry issues this season due to Kyrie Irving‘s impending free agency drama while the Sixers have two more stars than they did at the beginning of the 2018-19 campaign, so a series between these teams will look a lot different from last postseason’s.

Boston currently sits in fifth place in the East and two games behind the Sixers, and the Pistons and Nets sit 6.5 and 7.5 games behind in sixth and seventh place. Brad Stevens’ club would have to do a lot of losing to close out the regular season, and while it appears unlikely, weirder things have happened in sports.

The teams opened the season, and Boston ran the Sixers out of the gym en route to a 105-87 win. Joel Embiid dropped 23 points, but Al Horford, as usual, read him like a book and forced him to take 21 shots from the field. Philly took the teams’ matchup on Christmas to overtime, with then-recent acquisition Jimmy Butler scoring 24 on 21 shots, while Embiid figured out Horford and dropped 34 on 17 shots and sunk all 12 of his free throw attempts.

The Sixers kept it close in every statistical category except for turnovers: they committed 19 to the Celts’ nine. Philly dropped their most recent matchup, too, with a 112-109 final score. Gordon Hayward and turnovers killed the Sixers: the former scored 26 points on 11 shots, and the Sixers committed nine more of the latter than the Celtics in the game.

Embiid has to figure out how to dominate against Horford if the Philadelphia 76ers want to even think about beating Boston four times in seven games. In addition to his inefficient first game of the season against the division rivals, he dropped 23 points on 22 shots in their most recent contest. In addition, Tobias Harris basically failed to show up, putting up four points on 14 shots, missing all six of his three-point attempts.

These teams meet again on Wednesday night at the Wells Fargo Center in a game that will tell a lot about the results from all the overhaul for both teams over the course of the season as well as providing a possible preview of the trajectories of Philadelphia and Boston going into the playoffs. Gordon Hayward probably won’t play due to a concussion while Joel Embiid rested against Charlotte last night. Boston has had leadership struggles amid rumors of Kyrie Irving’s potential departure while general manager Elton Brand has aggressively made moves to strengthen the Sixers.

Chemistry issues are the major difference in the Boston locker room ahead of a potential first-round meeting if the Celtics lose most of their remaining games, while the Philadelphia 76ers’ reloaded starting five wants to live up to the hype and finally take down the team that has given them so much trouble throughout the Process, and NBA history as well.

Meeting the Celtics in the first round would provide a huge test for a still young and inexperienced 76ers team, but to be the best, the Sixers will have to beat the best.