The Celtics finished off the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday night, advancing to the second round of the 2012 NBA Playoffs. Awaiting them are the Philadelphia 76ers, who also clinched their first round series on Thursday – upsetting the one-seed Chicago Bulls. Of course, the Bulls were without Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, so they were hardly the one seed their record says they were.
The guys over at Celtics Blog are already questioning whether the Sixers pose less of a threat to their championship dream than the Atlanta Hawks:
On paper, the Sixers seem like an easier opponent than Atlanta. Their size in the back court doesn't pose as much of a match-up nightmare that Joe Johnson proved to be against our smaller guards. Hawes and Brand should be less daunting than Horford and Smith were in Games 5 and 6. Iguodala is always a wild card, but he'll have to be consistently good if Philly has a chance to steal home court advantage. As bad as our offense has looked at times, I just don't see the Celtics having as much trouble putting up points as the Bulls did.
Game one is scheduled for Saturday.
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