addByline("Marc D'Amico", "Celtics.com", "Marc_DAmico");
BOSTON – Philadelphia head coach Brett Brown gave his young Sixers a history lesson Monday morning ahead of Game 1. He took it upon himself to teach them about the long and colorful history between their organization and the Boston Celtics.
Brown had a video put together that summarized the rivalry between the two organizations and he showed it to the Sixers Monday morning, before they even got into the game plan for tonight’s Game 1.
“It was the first thing that we showed this morning,” he said after Philadelphia’s shootaround.
Brown went on to explain why he prioritized the video to the point of it becoming his lead message of the day.
“I get the history of what goes on with our two organizations intimately, and I think that it’s just incredibly exciting,” said Brown. “And so to revisit that with my young guys and show them, before we even got into sort of Xs and Os and scout tape, (the message) was really: look at the history here. Have a real sort of knowledge-base of our two organizations. It’s something historic. It’s something very special.”
Joel Embiid, who is arguably the corner stone of Philadelphia’s organization, said that Hall of Famer Julius Irving was a big part of the video. Dr. J, as he is well known, addressed the team on his experience in the back-and-forth nature of these two organizations, which met in the Conference Finals five times in six seasons from 1980-85.
“He was just kind of explaining the rivalry, and how intense it gets,” said Embiid. “And these are the type of moments I live for, so I’m excited.”
When asked what his favorite moment of the video was, Embiid answered, without a smile, “Dr. J, Larry Bird, holding each other’s necks.”
There is no indication that this current matchup will turn into a melee like it did back in 1984, when Erving and Bird went at it. There is, however, a belief that the Celtics and the Sixers will be jockeying yet again for supremacy in the Eastern Conference for the next half-decade.
Embiid, who is teaming up with rookie phenom Ben Simmons, is buying into the hype.
“I think when you look at the whole league and you talk about the future of the league,” he said, “we’re up there, they’re up there, so it’s going to be fun the next couple of years.”
The future is bright for both organizations, but this week is all about concentrating on the present.
Boston and Philadelphia are set to rekindle their historic rivalry in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The first team to four wins advances on and takes the most recent round of this divisional battle.
It all starts tonight at 8 p.m.