Who is Celtics current biggest rival in the east

[celticsclay]

Curious what other Cber's think. Though we have beat them we have had several playoffs series against the Wizards over the last few years including some trash talk (the funeral games). Most would say Toronto is probably the toughest competition for us at the moment replacing Demar with Leonard for a team that won the most regular season games in the East last year. We had close playoff series against the Bucks (who figure to be better with a different coach) and a less close series against the 76ers (who are in our division and have two amazing young players in Simmons and Embiid. What do you all think?

[saltlover]

Curious what other Cber's think. Though we have beat them we have had several playoffs series against the Wizards over the last few years including some trash talk (the funeral games). Most would say Toronto is probably the toughest competition for us at the moment replacing Demar with Leonard for a team that won the most regular season games in the East last year. We had close playoff series against the Bucks (who figure to be better with a different coach) and a less close series against the 76ers (who are in our division and have two amazing young players in Simmons and Embiid. What do you all think?

I think we only played the Wizards once in the playoffs (2017).  I think that’s more of a one-way rivalry.  Wizards players and fans care more about it than the Celtics.

[nickagneta]

Currently and historically its gotta be the Sixers but for Lebron's years in Cleveland it was easily the Cavs.

[celticsclay]

Curious what other Cber's think. Though we have beat them we have had several playoffs series against the Wizards over the last few years including some trash talk (the funeral games). Most would say Toronto is probably the toughest competition for us at the moment replacing Demar with Leonard for a team that won the most regular season games in the East last year. We had close playoff series against the Bucks (who figure to be better with a different coach) and a less close series against the 76ers (who are in our division and have two amazing young players in Simmons and Embiid. What do you all think?

I think we only played the Wizards once in the playoffs (2017).  I think that’s more of a one-way rivalry.  Wizards players and fans care more about it than the Celtics.

You are right Saltlover, for some reason I was thinking it was two playoff series, but I guess a lot of the trash talk was regular season games and I got confused.

[hpantazo]

This coming season, it's got to be Toronto. They were the top seeded team and they upgraded with the Kawhi for Leonard trade. They also gave us some trouble in the regular season even with a healthy Kyrie.

We beat the Sixers and the Bucks without Kyrie and Hayward, and the Sixers got worse if anything. The Bucks improved, but not enough imo to be a bigger threat than Toronto.


Historically, yeah, its the Sixers. But this current version of the Sixers has yet to earn legit rivalry status. They have to prove themselves. Getting wupped by our B team doesn't cut it. Not saying they wont get better, but they are not there in our league yet.

[mmmmm]

My conservative side leans toward, "until proven otherwise ....", it has to be Toronto.

Sure, the Kawhi swap could blow up in their face.  But for the moment, on paper, we have to assume he's healthy and going to play to the best of his ability (contract year, after all).

So, on paper, given that they were the #1 seed last year, and they replaced DeMar with a better player and didn't otherwise suffer any huge roster losses, they should still be one of the top 2 or 3 teams in the East.

It's easy to make fun of their short playoff run and quick dismissal by the Lebrons, but they are still a very tough roster and if healthy and motivated, Kawhi makes them a lot more dangerous.

[blink]

Like everyone else I guess, (opps except Nick) I said Toronto.  They had a net positive by getting KL.  I don't think Philly will be as consistent as Toronto.  They might be more talented overall in the starting lineup but during the season  I think Toronto is better.  I took the term rival to mean 'best team other than us', not anything historical.

I think if you look at last years playoffs it really helped us to have home court adv.  I think that really should be a major goal.  With Toronto and probably Philly too being fairly evenly matched with us (we are probably a little bit better than both), it is a big plus if we can snag home court.

[celticsclay]

Like everyone else I guess, (opps except Nick) I said Toronto.  They had a net positive by getting KL.  I don't think Philly will be as consistent as Toronto.  They might be more talented overall in the starting lineup but during the season  I think Toronto is better.

I think if you look at last years playoffs it really helped us to have home court adv.  I think that really should be a major goal.  With Toronto and probably Philly too being fairly evenly matched with us (we are probably a little bit better than both), it is a big plus if we can snag home court.

I agree with everyone else that has Toronto, I was wondering if I was alone in this when I saw all the philly threads and posts etc. Interesting to know others also view Toronto as biggest threat. I'll admit I am scared of the Bucks because they seem like a bad matchup for us and they gave us 7 games with a horrible coach.

[mmmmm]

Like everyone else I guess, (opps except Nick) I said Toronto.  They had a net positive by getting KL.  I don't think Philly will be as consistent as Toronto.  They might be more talented overall in the starting lineup but during the season  I think Toronto is better.

I think if you look at last years playoffs it really helped us to have home court adv.  I think that really should be a major goal.  With Toronto and probably Philly too being fairly evenly matched with us (we are probably a little bit better than both), it is a big plus if we can snag home court.

I agree with everyone else that has Toronto, I was wondering if I was alone in this when I saw all the philly threads and posts etc. Interesting to know others also view Toronto as biggest threat. I'll admit I am scared of the Bucks because they seem like a bad matchup for us and they gave us 7 games with a horrible coach.

I concur with both these thoughts.   I do think Philly will be a good team, but all the attention being paid to them (and to be fair, Boston as well) in all the pre-season media has to be wearing a sore spot in the pride of a lot of the Raptors veterans.

And yeah, Milwaukee has a lot of overlooked talent, upside and length.  Lots and lots of length.  I'm not convinced that they are all that far behind the Sixers in potential.  If their new coach can provide any sort of real guidance and direction for all that talent, they could be extremely dangerous.

[nickagneta]

When I think rivalry, I think teams that just don't like each other and are good and fighting for the East's top spot. Toronto is good and will be a challeger this year, but they will never be a rival. There's just no history of animosity or meeting in the playoffs or anything resembling a true rivalry. The Sixers, that's different and thst's why I chose Philly.

[celticsclay]

When I think rivalry, I think teams that just don't like each other and are good and fighting for the East's top spot. Toronto is good and will be a challeger this year, but they will never be a rival. There's just no history of animosity or meeting in the playoffs or anything resembling a true rivalry. The Sixers, that's different and thst's why I chose Philly.

If it is about animosity it is definitely the Wizards

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2017/01/wizards-players-all-black-funeral-boston-celtics-john-wall-kelly-oubre-nba
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wizards-insider/wp/2017/05/12/funeral-game-pt-ii-celtics-show-up-for-game-6-dressed-in-all-black/?utm_term=.aaa5c3a6b084

Now you add a couple of pleasant guys like Dwight Howard and Austin Rivers? I think those games will have a lot of trash talk and animosity...

[blink]

When I think rivalry, I think teams that just don't like each other and are good and fighting for the East's top spot. Toronto is good and will be a challeger this year, but they will never be a rival. There's just no history of animosity or meeting in the playoffs or anything resembling a true rivalry. The Sixers, that's different and thst's why I chose Philly.

Well Embiid is a player I love to hate.  So maybe you are right.

[nickagneta]

When I think rivalry, I think teams that just don't like each other and are good and fighting for the East's top spot. Toronto is good and will be a challeger this year, but they will never be a rival. There's just no history of animosity or meeting in the playoffs or anything resembling a true rivalry. The Sixers, that's different and thst's why I chose Philly.

Well Embiid is a player I love to hate.  So maybe you are right.

I mean think about it. Does anyone here, as a fan, hate Washington or Toronto? Rivalries are all about hatred for another team that is challenging you for supremacy. Now that Lebron is gone from the East, the only team good enough to challenge Boston, that is hated, is Philly. Toronto will be a team to challenge Boston, but I really have no feelings about Toronto as a team. To me they are no different than just about any other right now.

[tazzmaniac]

Biggest rival to me is different than toughest competition this season.  Biggest rival is who can best challenge us for dominance in the East for the next 5+ years.  I don't see Toronto as a rival because I don't think Kawhi will stay after this season.  Think this is their last hoorah before they go into rebuild.  Washington has the albatross of Wall and his contract so I don't see them as a rival. 

Milwaukee with Giannis could be our biggest rival but its going to require Giannis to step up to Lebron level.  It is also going to require them to put the right pieces around Giannis which I'm not confident they can do based on their performance so far. 

Sixers seem the most likely to be our biggest rival because of their potential and the historical rivalry.  Embiid and Simmons could both be top 10 players in a couple years.  Fultz is obviously a big ? but the potential is there.  Saric is a solid contributor and they have other young players with potential (Smith, Korkmaz).  Finally they'll again have max cap space to sign someone next offseason and there are plenty of potential nice fits for them. 

[SparzWizard]

If the 76ers can sweep or take the season series against the Celtics this year, then it's ON.