Poll: Sixers vs. Celtics Series Predictions

[Vermont Green]

I went back and looked at the stats from PHI 4 games with BKN.  They have a pretty tight rotation:

P. Tucker - J. Harden - T. Harris - J. Embiid - T. Maxey

Melton also plays starter minutes with Reed, McDaniels, and Niang pitching in with limited minutes.  I suspect in a more competitive series, we will see even less of the last 3.

I predict that Horford is going to continue to be an x-factor for the Celtics.  He has the ability to draw Embiid out from the basket.  If we have RWill in, Embiid can sag and clog the lane.  This seems like it will be similar to how Horford was able to draw out Capela and force him to defend where he isn't comfortable.

Tucker was not great in the BKN series putting up only 20% from 3.  If he is not able to hurt us with corner 3s, that is a big help.  Harden was 42% from 3 but only 34% overall so I guess that means he wasn't finishing at the rim.  Maxey, Harris, and Melton were all hot from 3 vs. BKN.  Embiid draws a double and these guys hit their shots.  We need to rotate well and make sure that it is Tucker getting the shots and not others.

Embiid is the key of course.  If he is at or near full strength, we will need to double him and not foul him.  Horford and Grant I feel are good match up, not so much because of how they defend, but because they can both hit 3s and that will force Embiid away from the basket.  It will be interesting to see how RWill is used.  he was a negative +/- vs. ATL.  He may not work well against PHI either.

[Roy H.]

I don't feel great about this series after what I saw against Atlanta.  We couldn't defend the Hawks, and Philly is a much more talented offensive team.

If the Celtics choke away leads and give away games like they did against the Hawks, they won't advance.

[heyvik]

If the real celtics show up, they finish in 5.
If it's the team from this series, they lose in 6.

Politically we are far apart, however I fully agree with you here.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

The Celtics Achilles Heel is Joe Mazzulla.

doc will coach circles around this kid.

he will have us unfocused a couple games have bad rotations and bad defensive calls and lack of timeouts and will cost us.

i will go with Celts in 6. a couple brainfarts will cots us a couple games. its pat for the course with this team. see last year even with IME.  we shoulda beat heat and bucks in 6 or less. we blew many games.

Eh idk. Doc's solid, but he's not Spo/Popovich-level. In fact he hurts the Sixers a lot as well too lol. I think this series will be all about the players. Coaches will get blamed but I feel that'll be true for both sides anyways.

Yeah, I think Doc is a good coach but he has not been able to get the best out of PHI lately.  I think Doc is experiencing the shelf life issue.  I am not sure the team is listening to him anymore.  That is the impression I get anyway.

And I am not worried that Mazzulla is going to commit some series of gaffs to the extent that it will cost us the series.

We'll see I guess.

you may be right. doc did well in bawstin and LA. does not looks as good in philly. who knows.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

The Celtics Achilles Heel is Joe Mazzulla.

doc will coach circles around this kid.

he will have us unfocused a couple games have bad rotations and bad defensive calls and lack of timeouts and will cost us.

i will go with Celts in 6. a couple brainfarts will cots us a couple games. its pat for the course with this team. see last year even with IME.  we shoulda beat heat and bucks in 6 or less. we blew many games.

I hope that's sarcasm!  Doc is a barely .500 coach who has had some really good teams in the past and didn't do anything with them.  The 08 Celtic team was so talented, Doc could put it on auto pilot and not do anything,

well, doc, brad and IME were all better defensive coaches than this kid.

the defense we played up until the last 5 minutes was disgusting and NOT celtics D. the others would not have put up with that. FACT!

joe has shown nothing so far. not impressed.

[Who]

Tucker was not great in the BKN series putting up only 20% from 3.  If he is not able to hurt us with corner 3s, that is a big help. 

As an aside,

I saw some stats before the playoffs that had numbers for the best jump-shooters in the playoffs over the last 10 years on an X axis and Y axis in terms of accuracy and number of attempts.

Surprisingly, PJ Tucker was one of the most efficient jump-shot makers in the playoffs over the last 10 years total in terms of points per shot. Obviously the lowest in terms of attempts.

I did not expect to see that. Never think of him as much of a shooter. I know he can make the odd one. And usually only from the corners. But that was pretty good for PJ Tucker.

[Birdman]

Thought first game be Sunday but it’s Monday

[Phantom255x]

Thought first game be Sunday but it’s Monday

Probably also because a hypothetical Game 7 for the Bruins is Sunday at TD Garden

[Neurotic Guy]

I hope Sixers fans will be as irritated with Grant Williams as I inevitably will be with PJ Tucker.

Cs couldn’t do much to stop Atlanta’s offense.  Hawks created and hit open shots all series, especially 5 and 6.  Have to say that Atlanta couldn’t stop the Cs either.  It came down in Games 5 and 6 to who did/didn’t continue to hit shots and who wore down/ got sloppy.

What Cs did remarkably well I’d defend an inbounds play at the end of Game 6.   Can’t say I’ve ever seen the throw the ball off the guy play 3 straight times followed by throwing the ball away.  That was intense defense.

[Vermont Green]

Wow, what is up with James Harden?

Footage of James Harden smacking someone in the face in Las Vegas

The Sixers had a few days off and James Harden decided to go to Vegas earlier this week

https://twitter.com/TheNBACentral/status/1651999345691234304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1651999345691234304%7Ctwgr%5Ed203f786f19c4f5f13585ef8567041a1d98c043d%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fhoopshype.com%2Frumors%2F

[jpotter33]

I don't feel great about this series after what I saw against Atlanta.  We couldn't defend the Hawks, and Philly is a much more talented offensive team.

If the Celtics choke away leads and give away games like they did against the Hawks, they won't advance.

Eh, that’s mainly because of Trey, though. We’ve struggled all year against quick, speedy guards, as our guards are s as lo on the big side.

Philly doesn’t have that, and that’s part of the reason we matchup so we’ll with them.

[jpotter33]

I got us in 6. Think we cough up one game and Embiid goes nuclear another, but we ultimately take it in 6 on their home court.

We didn’t focus on exploiting Trey nearly enough this series. So I would love to see us really focus on three things: putting Joel in the high PnR, creating mismatches against Harden and Maxey to exploit, and not overly doubling or helping on Embiid. I think those are the three keys to this series, especially with Joel’s injury.

[Roy H.]

I don't feel great about this series after what I saw against Atlanta.  We couldn't defend the Hawks, and Philly is a much more talented offensive team.

If the Celtics choke away leads and give away games like they did against the Hawks, they won't advance.

Eh, that’s mainly because of Trey, though. We’ve struggled all year against quick, speedy guards, as our guards are s as lo on the big side.

Philly doesn’t have that, and that’s part of the reason we matchup so we’ll with them.

James Harden isn't as quick, but he's a better player overall who scores and passes similarly.

And, Atlanta doesn't have the MVP to be.

[Vermont Green]

I don't feel great about this series after what I saw against Atlanta.  We couldn't defend the Hawks, and Philly is a much more talented offensive team.

If the Celtics choke away leads and give away games like they did against the Hawks, they won't advance.

Eh, that’s mainly because of Trey, though. We’ve struggled all year against quick, speedy guards, as our guards are s as lo on the big side.

Philly doesn’t have that, and that’s part of the reason we matchup so we’ll with them.

James Harden isn't as quick, but he's a better player overall who scores and passes similarly.

And, Atlanta doesn't have the MVP to be.

Embiid is clearly better than anyone on ATL, but I am not sure that Harden is better than Trae Young at this point.  ATL played very well against us.  Murray played well, Hunter, Collins, all played well, at least at times.  Bogdanovic played well too.  I expect PHI to be better, to be a harder out, but ATL played well above what you would expect of a 0.500 regular season team.

But even with that, the only Celtic's play that scares me is the 6:00 in the 4th quarter of game 5.  We looked like we did in some of the 4th quarters in the finals last season.  Deer in the headlights, not quite up to a big moment, what ever you want to call it.  So yes, if we play like that at crunch time, we won't advance.  We outplayed ATL overall and we can outplay PHI.

[SparzWizard]

Wow, what is up with James Harden?

Footage of James Harden smacking someone in the face in Las Vegas

The Sixers had a few days off and James Harden decided to go to Vegas earlier this week

https://twitter.com/TheNBACentral/status/1651999345691234304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1651999345691234304%7Ctwgr%5Ed203f786f19c4f5f13585ef8567041a1d98c043d%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fhoopshype.com%2Frumors%2F

If he was just some NBA player, he'd get slapped with a suspension or two. But since he's All-Star James Harden, they'll slap a fine on him and will be ready for Game 1