The Philadelphia 76ers are set to do battle against the Boston Celtics. It’s the series we’ve been basically waiting for all season long. And to make the stakes even higher, Giannis Antetokounmpo was injured minutes into his first playoff game, so the No. 8 seed Miami Heat wound up knocking out the East’s top seed, upending the Eastern Conference bracket.
That means that the winner of this Sixers-Celtics series will play host to whoever emerges from the Knicks-Heat side of the bracket. Neither the Heat nor the Knicks would have been favored over a fully healthy Sixers group.