Daryl Morey fuels Celtics-76ers rivalry with latest comments

Daryl Morey fuels Celtics-76ers rivalry with latest comments originally appeared in NBC Sports Boston

The rivalry between the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers has been one of the best in the NBA for many decades. But for the last 15 years it’s been a pretty one-sided rivalry.

The Sixers are confident the tide will turn starting next season.

The 76ers have been busy in the offseason. They re-signed star Tyrese Maxey to a huge contract extension (five years, $204 million) and also entered the free agent market to sign elite power forward Paul George to a four-year deal worth about $ 211 million. Philly also added veteran guards Kyle Lowry and Eric Gordon during free agency.

These plays definitely make the Sixers better, but to what extent have they actually closed the gap on the Celtics? Boston is Coming off a championship campaign which saw them clinch the league’s best record (64-18) in the regular season before dominating the playoffs with a 16-3 run, including a victory over the Dallas Mavericks in the 2024 NBA Finals.

76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey sounded pretty confident in his team when addressing the Celtics during a radio appearance on 97.5 The Fanatic earlier this week.

“I’m an objective data guy. We’re talking to a very small number of teams – the top two, three or four, somewhere in there,” Morey said.

“Obviously, you have to give credit to the Celtics. They won the title. . We will come to take the title from them.”

It’s hard to imagine the Sixers beating the Celtics in the playoffs if center Joel Embiid isn’t the best player in the series. The former league MVP is 0-3 in playoff series against the Celtics during his career, with the most recent loss coming in the 2023 Eastern Conference Semifinals.

The Sixers had a 3-2 series lead after defeating the C’s in Game 5 at TD Garden in Boston. But then everything got worse for Philly and Embiid. He shot 14 of 37 (0 of 6 from 3-point range) over the next two games as the Celtics won the series. He was especially awful in Game 7, scoring just 15 points on 5-of-18 shooting. Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum scored a Game 7 record 51 points in a 112-88 win for Boston.

The Sixers have a very good squad and deserve to be mentioned among the teams with a realistic chance of winning the Larry O’Brien Trophy next season. But they should probably avoid talking about winning the championship from the Celtics until they at least reach the conference finals – something they haven’t done since 2001.