CAMDEN, N.J.–The Philadelphia 76ers have won 22 of their last 28 games. Following a troubling 12-12 start, they have righted the ship and they are steamrolling up the standings in the Eastern Conference.
They have also won eight of their last nine road games, the only loss in that stretch being on Sunday in a loss to the New York Knicks. The Sixers continue to look like one of the top contenders in the Eastern Conference and they will have just as good a shot as anybody to reach the finals.
In order to do so, they will have to go through the Boston Celtics who are the defending Eastern Conference champions. Wednesday’s matchup at the TD Garden won’t have any playoff implications or anything close to it, but it does offer a chance of a statement win for Philadelphia to let everybody know that they should be taken seriously.
“You’re playing the number one team in the Eastern Conference,” said Georges Niang at practice on Tuesday. “They went to the finals last year. That’s the team that came out of East so of course this is a statement game. I can sit here and be like, ‘Oh, this is like any other game’, but obviously, a nationally televised game. We’re focused on what we have to do to beat the best team that’s in our conference.”
While Niang is ready for the big matchup, coach Doc Rivers is not putting much stock into this one. This is another game on the schedule and he just wants his team to be ready.
“If we win, what is the test? That we can beat them?” said Rivers. “When we lose? You know what I mean? I just think any of the times you play a good team, has more juice. I don’t know if it has more meaning, it just has more juice to it.”
Rivers has a bigger picture in mind. He understands that to reach the finals, the Sixers will have to go through the Celtics. Beginning with Wednesday’s matchup, they will have three matchups left with their rivals before the playoffs begin.
“Again, you catch a team in a regular season, we can be coming off a stretch and they can be playing well,” Rivers continued. “They can have injuries. That’s why you just don’t overdo a regular season game except for Boston is a team you have to beat to get to the finals because they’re the Eastern Conference champions. So you might as well get in that habit now.”
This will be the first matchup with the Celtics since way back in October on opening night. Philadelphia is a much different team than they were on that night and Rivers is focused on the team’s improvements.
“Not necessarily looking at the game, you’re just really looking at your team, and defensively and offensively,” the coach finished. “What are you doing different? What are you doing better? How much better is your execution? And stuff like that. Then you look at the team in Boston is a team that we’ll have three times counting tomorrow and then hopefully in the playoffs. So there’s a chance that we have Boston 10 more times this year. You look at every game.”
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