Brett Brown: 'We're Always Going to Have to Go Through the Boston Celtics'

The Boston Celtics prevailed this time around, but Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown believes the 2018 second-round playoff battle could be the first of many postseason meetings between the two clubs.

"If we're going to do anything of any significance, we're always going to have to go through the Boston Celtics," Brown said after his team lost Wednesday's Game 5, 114-112, to end the series, per NBA TV:

Both teams are set up for future success with young playmakers such as Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid and Dario Saric on Philadelphia's side and Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown on Boston's side.

The Celtics will be even more formidable in future postseasons once Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward return, as each player missed this year's playoffs with injuries.

While Boston won this year's matchup in only five games sans Irving and Hayward, Philadelphia wasn't far from prevailing. The Sixers lost Game 2 after building a 20-point lead, lost Game 3 in overtime and dropped Game 5 in heartbreaking fashion after Embiid missed a makeable shot down low that would have tied the game in the waning seconds.

Boston's young guys came through, though, as Tatum hit a layup to break the tie with 22.5 seconds remaining and finished with 25 points. Brown added 24 points and was 3-of-4 from deep, with multiple critical shots in the second half.

The question now is what Brown and the 76ers will do in the offseason to help close the gap on the Celtics.

They'll receive the Los Angeles' Lakers first-round pick so long as it doesn't fall between Nos. 2-5, and they could carve out enough salary-cap space to add a marquee free agent. In March, Kevin O'Connor of The Ringer reported the 76ers, Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets and Cleveland Cavaliers were the four teams on LeBron James' wish list as possible free-agent landing spots this summer.

While the Celtics reign supreme in the rivalry with Philadelphia for now, there figure to be more battles down the road as each roster blossoms in the coming years.