The Philadelphia 76ers and the Boston Celtics have a heated rivalry that has gone back hundreds of years. They have had plenty of big playoff series and they have had big moments in games and words have been said over and over again about how important this rivalry is.
Josh Richardson, who led a Joel Embiid-less Sixers team over the Celtics on Thursday 109-98, had 29 points and seven assists to lead Philadelphia. This is his first season with the Sixers and he has only been involved in three of these games, but he understood how important this rivalry is the moment he stepped on to the floor.
“I definitely feel it. I felt it the first game, as soon as it started,” he explained. “It’s two big sports cities that get really behind their teams so you appreciate that. I feel like everybody’s almost ready to fight about that game when it comes up. Boston-Philly, football I know it’s like that too, why wouldn’t be like that in basketball?”
Josh Richardson explains how he understands the Sixers-Celtics rivalry. Says it’s almost like a fight. #Sixers pic.twitter.com/xBTBaCyPFh
— Ky Carlin (@Ky_Carlin) January 10, 2020
In all three of Philadelphia’s wins over Boston, Richardson has played a big part in helping push them over the top. He has been able to make big plays on offense and he has always made a few hustle plays in each game to really seal these wins in favor of the Sixers. He certainly did so on Thursday.
“I thought that his attitude and attack mentality right out of the gate was impressive,” said coach Brett Brown. “He was extremely aggressive, both sides of the ball, immediately. I think Josh Richardson, in the absence of Joel Embiid, we have a chance here at home, we wanted to keep that momentum going and I think Josh drove that.”
Philadelphia is now 3-0 against the Celtics with one more matchup between the two teams on February 1 in Boston. [lawrence-related id=23147,23128,23112]