PHILADELPHIA — The pacing of basketball at its finest often resembles a boxing match. When a game of runs and momentum swings suddenly grinds into a slugfest, the two sides trading haymakers until one victor is left standing.
The Sixers and Celtics are no strangers to that dance. A pair of postseason clashes in 2018 and 2020 still linger on the periphery of their Atlantic Division rivalry. All three of top-seeded Boston’s wins this season over Philadelphia have been decided by single digits, the latest being Saturday night’s 110-107 win. Along with Giannis Antetokoumpo’s Milwaukee Bucks, the road to an Eastern Conference crown seems like it will run primarily through Boston as well as their foes down the Northeast Corridor.