Mark My Words: The Sixers Will Beat The Celtics In The Playoffs

Back in 2018, Joel Embiid was asked how he felt about the Celtics v. Sixers rivalry after losing to Boston 105–87. He gave the perfect response.

“This is not a rivalry … I don’t know our record against them, but it’s pretty bad. They always kick our ass.”

As a fan, the last thing you typically want to hear from your team’s best player is that he doesn’t think the team is good enough to beat their rival. But for most Sixers fans, I think it was a breath of fresh air. At the time, they were undeniably getting their ass handed to them every time they faced the Celtics. So it would’ve been delusional if Embiid were to say “I know we can beat them at some point”.

We’re now five years removed from Embiid’s comments and it sucks to say, but not much has changed. In the 18 regular season matchups, the two teams are split 9–9. But the last time the Celtics matched up with the Sixers in the playoffs, where the rivalry actually has significance, they swept them 4–0.

But this is a message to all my fellow Sixers fans … there is a light at the end of the tunnel. It’s a dim light, but if you squint really really hard & tilt your head a smidge to the left, you can’t miss it.

Sure, the Sixers are 0–3 against the Celtics this season. But they are playing solid basketball, and have looked better each time the two teams have matched up. During the first meetup, the Sixers lost by 9. The second, they lost by 7 and this past weekend they lost by 3 and were a fraction of a second away from sending the game to OT. Each game has looked better than the last, and the Sixers are only trending upwards.

The two teams have one more matchup in the regular season on April 4th that’ll be played in Philly. I think this will be the game where we see everything finally come together. The Sixers will finally get a dub over the Celtics and head into the playoffs with a lot of confidence.

Unfortunately, I’m relying on Doc to make some lineup & game plan changes. That’s about as good as wishing on a shooting star that actually turns out to be an astroid heading for Earth. In all likelihood, my wish won’t come true and my death will be caused by the one thing I thought would save me. But I’m staying positive and optimistic despite that reality.

I think this Sixers team has too much talent to let Doc Rivers get in his own way this post season. I think Embiid, Harden, & Harris are going to be completely locked in and guys like Tucker, Melton, & Maxey are going to vital role players who come up big.

Lastly, the Sixers went 3–1 in the regular season against the Celtics back in 2020. The two teams faced off in the first round of the playoffs where Boston swept Philly. If the Sixers can win the fourth matchup of the season, that would mean the Celtics walk away with a 3–1 record heading into the playoffs. So if the phrase “history repeats itself” has an ounce of truth to it … the Sixers will wipe the floor with the Celtics and march their way to winning the Finals.