The Sixers will play the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Semifinals

After pushing the Celtics to Game 7, the Bucks finally faltered in a win-or-go-home game on Saturday night. With the Celtics coming out on top in a 112-96 win, the Celtics have advanced to the Eastern Conference Semifinals to take on the Sixers. Because the Celtics are a 2 seed, the Sixers (3 seed) will travel to Boston for Games 1 and 2.

Game 1 of the Sixers/Celtics series will be Monday, April 30th at 8:00 pm and Game 2 is scheduled for Thursday, May 3rd at 8:30 pm.

The Sixers went 1-3 against the Celtics in the regular season, but so much has changed since those games, with the final two games being as far back as mid-January .

1. Kyrie Irving played in the 3 games the Sixers lost. He will not play in this series.
2. Jerryd Bayless played in all 4 of those games, with more than 30 minutes in 2 of them. Jerryd won’t sniff the court this series.
3. Marco Belinelli and Ersan Ilyasova were not part of the bench for any of those 4 games.
4. The Sixers are simply a better team now than they were earlier this season when they played the Celtics.

I feel good about this series. As the old basketball saying goes, when you have the best player on the court, you have a chance. Well, the Sixers will have the two best players on the court (Joel Embiid and Marco Belinelli) (Just kidding. Ben Simmons and Belinelli). Lots of talk about Brad Stevens, and deservedly so. The guy has done a lot with an injury plagued team. However, Brett Brown has done more than enough to impress, and I think the two will balance each other out. This should all come down to what happens on the court.

Liberty Ballers will be providing you coverage of this series all week. Check back for all the commentary, analysis and breakdowns you’ll need of Sixers/Celtics.