Boston Celtics: 5 keys to series vs. 76ers

1.  The next man up

All season long, the Celtics have defied expectations with a next man up approach. It happened when Gordon Hayward went down on opening night and it’s been happening again with Kyrie Irving done for the year.

The question is, who will it be this time? Semi Ojeleye? Greg Monroe? My money is on Aron Baynes, who will be starting games for the foreseeable future. The 76ers are going to bring a lot of traffic into the paint, where Baynes can live out his dream of being the highest paid brick wall of all time.

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Seriously, though, if that wall doesn’t get knocked over, the Celtics have a chance. If not, they might look for an injection of energy from the pesky Shane Larkin. No matter what, they’ll need more unheralded, unsung heroes to step up like Marcus Morris and Terry Rozier have been doing for the past two months.