With the Celtics 118-10 win over the Wizards during NBA’s play-in tournament, it will be Brooklyn vs. Boston on Saturday night, 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
“Those guys are the best of the best, and going into that, if I’m a fan and just a general fan of the NBA, I have a hard time seeing them lose,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said postgame. “So we’re going to have to play great, we’re going to have to play great together, and we’re going to have to be really, really sound on both ends of the floor.”
The Garden Report analyzes the matchup and if the Celtics have any chance of avoiding a sweep or even pulling an upset. They also debate if this was the best case for the Celtics with Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving not getting much playing time together ahead of time due to injures. Also because the 76ers, who have Defensive Player of the Year candidate in Ben Simmons and former MVP candidate Joel Embiid, have been playing with great continuity all season long and will cause matchup problems.
Although, it doesn’t get much better with the Nets. In their three matchups this season, the Celtics are 0-3, winning by an average of 15.0 points. Irving played in all three meetings while Durant and Harden played in one meeting each. It also doesn’t help that the Celtics will be without All-Star Jaylen Brown and possibly starting center Robert Williams.
