Sixers vs. Celtics: Predictions for first round of 2020 NBA playoffs
Stuart London
The Boston Celtics are like a donut. They look good, you are suppose to like them, and there are a lot of worse things you could enjoy.
However, like the donut, the Celtics have one other thing in common: A hole in the middle.
Boston never really replaced Al Horford at center when he left for (dumbly given) more money with the Sixers.
The Sixers have a lot of problems, but exploiting small teams is not one of them. Center Joel Embiid has tortured teams in the bubble with his dominant post play. Of course, there is Horford now on the Sixers’ side and Tobias Harris at 6-foot-9 playing small forward. The Celtics’ starting center is the same height as Harris.
In a slow-paced slugfest, the Sixers can pull off the upset even without Ben Simmons.
The one wildcard is the coaching. Boston’s Brad Stevens ran rings around Brett Brown in their first playoff meeting two years ago. To his credit, Brown was not out-coached against Nicks Nurse when they faced Toronto last year.
But Stevens could outmaneuvered Brown so severely that the Celtics could pull the series out even if the Sixers play like they were hyped to be in the pre-season.