Can you believe the NBA playoffs are just around the corner? I mean it is upon us on Monday. While the games being on in the bubble and all the political statements on people's shirts on the fact that it has been turned into a political crapshoot that most people are upset by is not great but I actually kind of enjoy how the season was significantly shorter this year. Each NBA season seems to take 2 years (and it does actually happen across two separate years) and at times the years seem to blend together.
But here we are, in the playoffs after less than 10 games into the "bubble" season. Old school rivalry Boston vs Philly is the first matchup I want to talk about and for most fans, this one is going to be pretty one sided.
My money would have been on the Celtics anyway because I think they are a far better team and in the times that these two teams have met in the recent past (with similar or even identical rosters) the Celtics have all but dominated those meetings. Now we take this truth that can be backed up by historical information and then introduce the fact that star point guard for Philly, Ben Simmons, isn't even going to be playing due to an injury.
Simmons left Orlando for knee surgery a few weeks ago and is out indefinitely.
Even with Simmons in the lineup I still think Boston would win the series while maybe losing one game but without a player who routinely puts up convincing double and even triple doubles, you can fuhgetaboutit. I think what we are going to end up seeing from Philadelphia is an attempt to simply try to make it look like they belong here and not get embarrassed.
To add to the 76ers woes, the Celtics are the only team in the NBA right now with 3 players averaging over 20 points a game and without Simmons elite defense, you can count on that continuing.
I don't really have a favorite team in the NBA, but the Celtics are right up there and this is going to be, in my opinion, a walk in the park for them. I would bet the farm on the Celtics advancing and believe they will win the first 3, drop one to have a rest, then finish the series in game 5.
It is a bit odd these playoffs since there really isn't any sort of home court advantage going on in Orlando. It should be interesting to see.
The games start on Monday.