The rivalry between the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers has been one of the NBA's best for many decades. But over the last 15 years it's been a pretty one-sided feud.
The Sixers are confident the tide will turn beginning next season.
The 76ers were busy in the offseason. They re-signed star guard Tyrese Maxey to a huge contract extension (five years, $204 million), and also went into the free agent market to land elite forward Paul George on a four-year deal worth around $211 million. Philly added veteran guards Kyle Lowry and Eric Gordon during free agency, too.
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These moves definitely make the Sixers better, but how much have they really closed the gap on the Celtics? Boston is coming off a championship campaign that saw them earn the league's best record (64-18) in the regular season before dominating in the playoffs with a 16-3 run, including a victory over the Dallas Mavericks in the 2024 NBA Finals.
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76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey sounded pretty confident in his team when addressing the Celtics during a radio appearance on 97.5 The Fanatic earlier this week.
"I'm a big objective data guy. We're right there in the conversation with a very small number of teams -- top two, three or four, somewhere in there," Morey said.
"Obviously, you have to give the Celtics their credit. They won the title. They're an excellent team. They've brought everybody back. They're the target, but we don't feel like we give up anything to them. We are going to be coming to take the title away from them."
It's hard to imagine the Sixers beating the Celtics in the playoffs if superstar center Joel Embiid isn't the best player in the series. The former league MVP is 0-3 in playoff series against the Celtics during his career, with the most recent defeat coming in the 2023 Eastern Conference Semifinals.
The Sixers had a 3-2 series lead after defeating the C's in Game 5 at TD Garden in Boston. But then it all went downhill for Philly and Embiid. He shot 14-of-37 (0-of-6 from 3-point range) over the next two games as the Celtics won the series. He was especially awful in Game 7, scoring just 15 points on 5-of-18 shooting. Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum scored a Game 7 record 51 points in a 112-88 win for Boston.
The Sixers have a very good roster and deserve to be mentioned among the teams with a realistic chance of winning the Larry O'Brien Trophy next season. But they should probably refrain from talking about taking the Celtics' title belt until they reach at least the conference finals -- something they haven't accomplished since 2001.