Five Sixers vs. Celtics Games to Watch Instead of the Bubble Playoffs

The Sixers playoff series against the Boston Celtics is predictably not going well so far. Despite being dominant at home before the pandemic, the Sixers were a disaster on the road and slipped in the standings before the pandemic halted everything. When the season restarted, the Sixers still didn’t recover and have struggled mightily against teams they should have beaten on paper. This is why there’s little to no hype in Philly about their postseason series against their biggest rival historically. The Celtics are a well oiled machine who look to have their You-Know-What together and the Sixers don’t.

Such is the story of this long rivalry. While Eagles vs. Cowboys and Flyers vs. Penguins gets plenty of hype, 76ers vs. Celtics is longest storied sports feud in Philadelphia. The trend always seems to be the Sixers having a great individual player or two but Boston having the complete team capable of winning nearly every big game they’ve ever played.

While most of the big Sixer games against the Celtics admittedly go to the side of the Leprechauns, there’s still some pretty cool Sixers moments sprinkled in that rivalry. So instead of being miserable watching the current playoff series and being constantly reminded that Volde-Fultz was picked over Number 0, watch these games instead.

Opening Night 2019

Remember this game? Back when people could go to the arena and attend a basketball game without masks the Sixers opened up their 2019-20 season with a win over the Celtics. It was the height of optimism for the 10-9-8-76ers, and boy who could’ve predicted what was to come over the next year.

The TJ McConnell Game

The Sixers 2nd Round series was a punch in the you-know-where after an exhilarating 2017-18 season came to a screeching halt. However, we did get the signature game of arguably the 2nd most popular player of The Process Era: TJ McConnell. McConnell’s 19 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists spared a sweep and a home elimination despite the series being pretty much over. At least this playoff series didn’t have the drama of the Raptors series the following year.

That Time Dr. J Choked Larry Bird

Revisionist history says that the NBA was on the verge of going under until Magic Johnson and Larry Bird’s arrival to the league. That maybe true, but what others forget is that Julius Erving kept the league afloat just before those two arrival. Erving and the Sixers rivalry with Bird and the Celtics in the ’80s was just as intense as the Lakers and Celtics rivalry of that same era.

While the game where this incident occurred was a regular season game in 1984 and Boston won anyway, Dr. J finally got fed up with the Indiana God’s basketball dominance and trash talking. So him and Bird literally went at each other’s throats that became an iconic image in basketball history.

The Uncut Gems Game

Yes, the Sixers did lose Game 7 of the 2012 ECSF to the Big 3 Celtics, the last meaningful game the team played before The Process. But that that particular game became the focal point of Uncut Gems’ climax, the same movie that feature Kevin Garnett, Idina Menzel, The Weekend and Mike Francesa. It was also the same movie that made people realize that Adam Sandler is a good actor and were actually mad he didn’t get an Oscar nomination.

So how about instead of watching the actual game just watch Uncut Gems on Netflix. The game still doesn’t explain the weird ending to the movie though.

The Andrew Toney Game

When talking about the biggest win in 76ers history the typical answer is usually the clincher to the 1967 and 1983 NBA championships, or even The Stepover Game.

But what’s probably the biggest win in terms of pressure? Game 7 of the 1982 Eastern Conference Finals. 1 year after blowing a 3-1 in the conference finals to Boston, the Sixers were on the verge of doing it AGAIN in 1982. No one on the planet game the Sixers a chance as no one had ever beaten the Celtics in a Game 7 at the Boston Garden.

And…they won. They won thanks in large part to Andrew Toney’s 34 points in that particular game. Toney averaged 26.4 points per game in that series which earned himself arguably the most epic nickname in Philly Sports history: The Boston Strangler (yeah yeah that probably wouldn’t slide today.)

But you know what’s even crazier? The Celtic fans actually chanted “Beat L.A.!” to the Sixers once they knew the game was out of reach. Say what you will about annoying Boston fans but that’s the coolest thing they’ve ever done.