Philadelphia 76ers vs. Boston Celtics Is the NBA Playoff Series We Need

Say it with your whole chest, at the top of your lungs, loud enough to wake the neighbors: We deserve and need and therefore must get a Boston Celtics vs. Philadelphia 76ers matchup as part of the 2023 NBA playoffs bracket.

To be sure, this was true before Joel Embiid detonated for 52 points on 20-of-25 shooting in Philly's narrow 103-101 Tuesday night victory over Boston. It's just even more true now.

Spare us all the "well, actually" caveats. The Celtics have been fully healthy for just one of these matchups, and it wasn't Tuesday night. Neither Jaylen Brown nor Robert Williams III was available.

Big whoop. RW3 missing time is essentially the status quo, and while the Celtics lead the season series 3-1, pretty much every single one of these games has been fun as hell. Boston's opening night win over Philly, in which it took a 10-point lead to the fourth quarter, is the closest thing to a bummer this rivalry—yes, rivalry—has known.

The last two meetings, in particular, have been riveting. They've included everything from 50-point kabooms, a game-winner, and disorderly crunch-time stretches to chess-match lineups and rotations and moments worthy of existential crisis and self-reflection.

They have also been decided by a total of—*checks notes*—five points, keeping in theme with a season series that has grown progressively tighter.

Granted, the Feb. 25 meeting that featured a 41-point explosion from Embiid and ended with a Jayson Tatum game-winner represented the pinnacle of this head-to-head. Nobody mission-critical was missing for either team, and there's no beating an almost-at-the-buzzer outcome.

Still, Tuesday night was a worthwhile encore. The Celtics, again, were shorthanded and seemed to lack interest in the early going. But they picked up their drive-and-kicks and three-point shooting for extended pockets while controlling the offensive glass and making life difficult for Tyrese Maxey and, at times, James Harden.

Embiid did his best to land a knockout blow in an epically close MVP race, delivering a masterclass in dominant scoring and decision-making that caused head coach Doc Rivers to wax poetic—and perhaps hyperbole, but also maybe not—after it was all said and done:

The Celtics did everything from tethering Grant Williams to him and having Al Horford prowl underneath to throwing the entire kitchen sink at him. Nothing worked.

And if Embiid did his damnedest to end the MVP debate, the Sixers supporting cast did even more to boost his case by doing less.

Philly's nine not-named-Joel players combined to score fewer than half of the team's points on 19-of-53 shooting (35.8 percent). And their total was only that high thanks to a trio of triples P.J. Tucker drilled during a two-minute span in the fourth quarter—all of which were assisted by Embiid.

Tuesday night's romp informs so much about a prospective playoff series, which would be fated to take place in the second round, between these two heavyweights.

The Celtics, with Horford (and RW3), are supposed to be among the teams most equipped to slow Embiid. They haven't even kind of succeeded this season.

Through four games against Boston, Embiid is averaging 36.8 points, 11.8 rebounds and 4.3 assists on an otherworldly 69.5 true shooting percentage. RW3 has appeared in just one of the contests, but the general tenets of the matchup persist. The Celtics have tried almost everything and anything to counter him. Limiting his three-point shooting is the closest they've come.

Watching Boston adjust to and grapple with Embiid over the course of an entire series would be exhilarating. Would head coach Joe Mazzulla run bigger lineups if everyone's available? Or would he skew small?

Tinier five-man arrangements have actually given the Sixers trouble during this four-game set. The Celtics lose rim pressure without RW3 on the floor, but they also have a better chance of displacing Embiid from the paint on defense if he's not allowed to play all the way off a non-shooter.

Tilting smaller also seems to throw Philly's supporting cast off-kilter. Boston's smalls are generally better at grabbing rebounds and pushing the pace, and mismatches galore transpire when Georges Niang or Paul Reed or the artist formerly known as Tobias Harris are on the floor.

This raises yet another question: Do the Sixers have enough juice beyond Embiid to adequately match up with the Celtics over a series, or is this very much a one-man-bears-all situation?

Philly has been treated to standout performances from one or two of its Others against Boston this season. It has never been everyone at the same time. Nor is it seemingly ever the same player.

Harden was really good in Games 1 and 2 of the regular-season series and has been largely unspectacular since. (His passing and ability to put defenses in rotation remain valuable.)

Tyrese Maxey has looked like a non-factor most of the time. He is 1-of-9 from three in the last three games against the Celtics. Derrick White might own real estate between his ears.

Tobias Harris went 8-of-12 from the floor on Feb. 25. He was 2-of-8 on Monday night and, overall, a complete no-show.

In the 155 minutes Embiid has logged against Boston this season, Philly is now a plus-nine. In 37 total minutes with him on the bench, it is a minus-26. Embiid might play more during the playoffs. Then again, he's at 38.8 minutes per game in the regular season series.

Regardless, entire fates can shift for the worse over these minutes-long clusters. The Sixers need to get more from their Harden-plus-mostly-bench units to have a puncher's chance.

The Celtics, meanwhile, probably need to get more from Tatum. His game-winner on Feb. 25 overshadowed what was an otherwise nondescript offensive performance. He is shooting 41.9 percent on twos and 28.6 percent from deep through the past three meetings without much free-throw volume.

So many other questions remain. What is Marcus Smart to this potential playoff series? Is the Celtics bench more vulnerable with White in the starting lineup or when he's not running bench-heavy units? How small can Philly afford to go around Embiid? What's its best backup-5 approach when he's not playing? How many untimely arguments will Grant Williams wage with the refs?

All year long, despite what Boston's 3-1 record implies, this matchup has been dynamite.

Here's hoping it still has another seven games left in the tank.

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Unless otherwise noted, stats courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference, Stathead or Cleaning the Glass. Salary information via Spotrac.

Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.