Boston Celtics: 3 keys to victory against the Philadelphia 76ers

The Boston Celtics face a Philadelphia 76ers side with no Ben Simmons in the first round of the playoffs. Here are the three keys for Boston to advance.

With the Eastern Conference first-round matchups all locked in, we look ahead to some tough battles, which get underway on Monday. The Boston Celtics will lock horns with a rival they know too well in the Philadelphia 76ers. The Celtics finished the season as the third seed in the east, going 5-3 in their bubble games, as the 76ers went 4-4 in theirs, locking down the sixth seed.

This is a first-round matchup that wasn’t expected before the beginning of the season. Both teams were among the contenders in the east and were projected to both be top-four seeds by many. However, the east has been tougher than it was made out to be, with Miami and Indiana both having very solid campaigns and finishing above the 76ers.

The major factor in Philly’s drop-off as potential contenders in the conference has been the injury sustained by Ben Simmons. Simmons underwent surgery to remove a loose body from his left knee, which sees his season come to an abrupt ending, leaving the Sixers in an unfortunate predicament going into the important stages of this year.

The Sixers still have Joel Embiid and a capable supporting cast which is good enough to cause problems for this Celtics side, which has been very impressive over the course of the season and their eight games in the bubble.

On paper, this Celtics team shouldn’t have too much of a problem dismantling a weakened Sixers outfit, but it’s not going to be as easy as that when the series comes around. Here, we’re going to look at the three keys for the Celtics as they look to advance past Embiid and the 76ers.