One of the NBA’s greatest rivalries resumes Sunday when the Boston Celtics host the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.
It will be the 23rd playoff series between these longtime Eastern Conference foes. The Celtics have won the last six playoff series in this rivalry dating back to the 1985 Eastern Conference Finals.
They are heavy favorites in this upcoming matchup, too.
The C’s exceeded all expectations this season. Despite losing several key players (Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, Al Horford, etc.) in the offseason, and not having Jayson Tatum until March as he recovered from an Achilles injury, the Celtics earned the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Jaylen Brown played at an MVP level all season. Role players such as Neemias Queta, Baylor Scheierman, Sam Hauser, Jordan Walsh and rookie Hugo Gonzalez all made a positive impact. Head coach Joe Mazzulla pushed almost all the right buttons, too. And then Tatum came back and tallied 10 double-doubles in 16 games.
Tatum being close to his normal self is bad news for the 76ers. They are heavy underdogs in this series, especially if star center Joel Embiid is unable to play for some or all of the series. He underwent an emergency appendectomy last week.
The Sixers still have plenty of talent, and they did beat the C’s twice earlier this season (Tatum didn’t play in either of those games). Tyrese Maxey is an All-Star guard, and rookie V.J. Edgecombe is a fantastic scorer. Paul George, when healthy, is a productive small forward.
Will it be enough to take down the Celtics? Experts don’t think so. The overwhelming consensus is the Celtics will win this series and do it rather quickly.
Here’s a roundup of predictions experts have made for this series:
Chris Forsberg, NBC Sports Boston: Celtics in five
Zach Kram, ESPN: Celtics in five
John Hollinger, The Athletic: Celtics in five
Dan Devine, Yahoo! Sports: Celtics in five
Tom Haberstroh, Yahoo! Sports: Celtics in five
Kevin O’Connor, Yahoo! Sports: Celtics in four
John Schuhmann, NBA.com: Celtics in four
Stephen Noh, Sporting News: Celtics
Jeremy Cluff, The Arizona Republic: Celtics in five
Bryan Kalbrosky, For the Win: Celtics in five
