2018 NBA Playoffs: Boston Celtics vs. Philadelphia 76ers preview

1. Will experience come into play for both teams?

For both the Celtics and the 76ers, inexperience hasn’t seemed to affect them the way it would most playoff teams.

Tatum, Simmons and Embiid have all never experienced postseason play until just this year, while Brown only has one playoff run under his belt, and yet that hasn’t stopped all four of them from being huge contributors in helping their respective teams advance to the conference semis.

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Despite their excellent play so far, there’s a reason as to why teams value playoff experience during the postseason. When games get tight and these young guys are thrown into situations they’ve never experienced, they might freeze up, costing their team a chance at victory.

While none of these future stars on both teams has shown any signs of freezing up at any point, that doesn’t mean it’s no longer a possibility.

With the East as wide open as it’s been in a long time, there’s a lot riding on this series. Whoever advances will be just one step away from realistically advancing to the NBA Finals.

While that still seems like a long way away, with every game comes added pressure, and it’s that accumulation of pressure that could cause one of these players to snap at a moment’s notice.

They’ve all been as cool as cucumbers so far, but as both teams go deeper into the playoffs, it’ll be interesting to see if the pressure becomes too much for one of them to handle.