The Sixers and Celtics will battle it out in round one. Here’s who we think will win.
The 2020 NBA playoffs are nearly upon us after a whirlwind season. The Philadelphia 76ers have the distinct honor of facing the Boston Celtics — longtime division rivals, and the conveniently recent home of current Sixers big man Al Horford. It promises to be one of the more intriguing first-round series.
Of course, Philadelphia will enter this game without Ben Simmons, who recently underwent season-ending surgery to remove a loose body in his left knee. Without Simmons, the Sixers will look to Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris, and others to penetrate Boston’s renowned defense.
The Celtics enter this series at 48-24 and in the No. 3 seed, whereas Philadelphia currently occupies the No. 6 seed after a 4-4 stint in the bubble. The Sixers finished the truncated regular season 43-30. While Boston technically has “home court advantage,” all seven games will take place in a neutral, virtually crowd-less setting. That is, unless you consider the virtual fans a real difference-maker.
Both teams should enter the series relatively healthy. Kemba Walker will have no minute restrictions for Boston, while all Indications are that Joel Embiid’s wrist is ready to go for Philadelphia. The obvious exception, of course, is Simmons. The Celtics’ starting five consists of Kemba Walker, Jaylen Brown, Gordon Hayward, Jayson Tatum, and Daniel Theis. The Sixers are expected to run a unit of Shake Milton, Josh Richardson, Tobias Harris, Al Horford, and Joel Embiid.
Here’s how our writers expect the series to play out.
Jonathan Geib
On Monday, our beloved Philadelphia 76ers begin their championship quest with a first-round playoff matchup against the Boston Celtics. This year was supposed to be THE year that the Sixers broke through and challenged the Milwaukee Bucks, LA Clippers, and the Los Angeles Lakers for NBA supremacy. After a disappointing regular season and a string of injuries, there is arguably more uncertainty around this team than ever before.
The 76ers can win the series against the Boston Celtics, but that does not mean they will. The Sixers are notably missing Ben Simmons for the remainder of the season and will rely on young guards to step up and support the veteran frontcourt of Joel Embiid and Al Horford. If there has been one consistent attribute of this team, it is a strong defensive presence. The Sixers are top 10 in the NBA in defensive efficiency (eighth), defensive rebounding percentage (fourth), steals (ninth), and blocks (ninth).
The young guards are crucial in this series matchup. Even with the team’s defensive prowess, star guards tend to light up the Sixers, as seen from Devin Booker, Damian Lillard, and most applicable, Kemba Walker. Even T.J. Warren torched the 76ers, although in fairness, bubble T.J. Warren was a different person. Matisse Thybulle and Josh Richardson are likely to draw the assignment of guarding Kemba in this upcoming series, and if their recent defense is any indication, the Sixers are in some trouble.
As I previously wrote about, Joel Embiid and Al Horford’s size are the greatest strength in this series for the Sixers, as the Celtics’ frontcourt is their weakness. This series could easily turn into the Celtics guards and Sixers big men both stuffing the stat sheets, which means the difference-maker will be defending those respective positions. If Richardson and Thybulle can guard Walker and Jayson Tatum better than Enes Kanter and Daniel Theis guard Embiid and Horford, we have a real chance of winning the series.
Philadelphia is 3-1 against Boston this year and I expect the confidence built from the regular season to carry into the playoffs. Losing an All-Start hurts any team, but this matchup is one where Ben is not the most important factor to winning. Granted he has played at a first team All-Defensive level this year, and his length would help against Walker, but I believe the Sixers can adjust.
Ultimately, the series will be impacted by game to game adjustments by Brad Stevens and Brett Brown. Brown knows his job is on the line so maybe this series will bring out his best coaching. I am optimistic it will and optimistic Embiid will show that he is a top five player in the league. Sixers in seven, book it!
FINAL PREDICTION: Sixers in 7
Uriah Young
I wish I could be optimistic about the Sixers, but Boston is just…Boston.
I think Brad Stevens is a superior coach and will gameplan for every aspect of what Brett Brown will do. As much as Horford knows about his former team, Stevens knows the same about him. I do not see Horford being as effective as he was in the regular season against the Celtics. Embiid will probably overthink everything and play with boulder-sized pressure on both shoulders. I foresee Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum having a field day against the Sixers. Without Ben Simmons’ size and defensive contribution, the Sixers will struggle against the versatile players in Brad Stevens’ system.
There is a reason the Celtics have finished near the top of their conference in the last several years, despite losing Al Horford and Kyrie Irving. They are well coached and primed for a deep run into the postseason.
Lastly, Kemba Walker is in a position to finally make some progress toward a championship. After languishing in the doldrums of Charlotte his entire career, he has a chance to go farther than he has ever gone. This new opportunity will motivate him like never before.
If the Sixers are not careful, they could get run out of the gym in Orlando, setting up a tumultuous offseason in the Sixers’ front office. When it is all said and done, I see the Celtics winning in six.
FINAL PREDICTION: Celtics in 6
Abin Thomas
Clearly the underdogs without Ben Simmons and a whacked up Joel Embiid, the Sixers’ chances of coming out of the first round don’t look too bright.
The majority of the regular NBA fans have already written Philadelphia off (just ask my friends), most of the people on twitter have written Philadelphia off, and many NBA analysts have also written Philadelphia off. However, it just isn’t that simple. The Sixers won the season series 3-1.
The Sixers will face multiple problems, especially on the defensive end, where the adjustments which Brett Brown makes could prove to be pivotal — it could ultimately make or break the Sixers’ chances of going through to the second round. Likewise, the fate of the Sixers’ postseason mainly lies in the hands of Joel Embiid. If Embiid plays well against double teams and kicks it out to open shooters, the Sixers stand a chance against the offense of Jayson Tatum and Kemba Walker.
Rookie Matisse Thybulle will also have a major role in guarding Tatum, with the absence of Ben Simmons. He is definitely capable of disrupting the Celtics’ offense with his impressive defensive I.Q. and his long reach. However, his tendency to get into foul trouble will also determine the amount of minutes he gets on the court.
Likewise, the end result could come down to the performance of a few players — if they are able to play aggressive defense, hit open shots, and get a solid contribution from the bench on a nightly basis, the Sixers might upset one of the Easts strongest team.
I have full faith in Embiid (a bit too much maybe) to stay healthy and to play at the very best of his abilities, and to make a significant contribution to the team. Similarly, with Brett Brown’s future on the line, I also place my trust in him (his last chance to prove me wrong) to formulate a defensive strategy to dampen the full force of the Celtics offence.
In the Sixers I trust.
FINAL PREDICTION: Sixers in 7
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.
FINAL PREDICTION: Sixers in 6
Christopher Kline
My gut reaction was Celtics in six. This is a favorable matchup for Joel Embiid, who has dominated almost every second of his healthy minutes in Orlando. Embiid had his way with Boston in the regular season, the Sixers won the season series 3-1, and Philadelphia has proven itself capable of overwhelming smaller opponents.
That said, there’s a reason the Celtics are the No. 3 seed, and conversely, there’s a reason the Sixers at the No. 6 seed. Boston has been a categorically better team all season, and the Celtics enter the postseason with far more positive momentum than Philadelphia.
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Embiid has been beaten up the past four games for the Sixers. He will enter this series with a hurt wrist and eight games of fresh wear and tear on his body. The Sixers will also be without the one person who has any chance of stopping Jayson Tatum. Ben Simmons’ absence will irrevocably harm a Sixers defense that has been less than the sum of its parts all season.
Without Simmons, Tatum will probably have his way. The Sixers need Al Horford, Shake Milton, and Tobias Harris to defend some combination of Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Gordon Hayward. There isn’t a single favorable matchup there. Josh Richardson will probably draw the Kemba Walker assignment, and even that matchup leaves me uneasy.
I’m all for Matisse Thybulle, but he’s a rookie prone to foul trouble who has never played on a stage this big. The Celtics are full of smart, crafty offensive players who can exploit his every lapse in concentration. An errant leap, and Tatum will pump fake and draw a foul. An ill-advised reach, and Walker drills the pull-up 3.
The Celtics will have an advantage over Philadelphia’s defense equal to or superior to Philadelphia’s advantage over Boston’s smaller defenders. Embiid may dominate, but there’s a good chance multiple Celtics do the same. Philadelphia’s perimeter defense — barring performances greatly exceeding the norm — is about to get shredded.
This series will provide a good litmus test for those who argue Embiid can lead a championship team. Even if the Sixers inevitably lose the series, any success will rest on Embiid’s shoulders. He will need to carry Philadelphia, and if he does so — if he makes this a competitive series — the Sixers can at least enter the offseason with some level of confidence in the future.
That said, the more I think about it, the less I like the Sixers’ chances. I’m taking the Celtics, and frankly, I’m not sure it will be close. I hope I’m wrong — I would love seven games of duke-it-out, high-intensity basketball — but alas, seldom can the Philadelphia fanbase have nice things.
FINAL PREDICTION: Celtics in 5
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