2020 NBA Playoffs: 76ers vs. Celtics Series Schedule is set

Author:
Justin Grasso
Publish date:
Aug 14, 2020 8:15 AM EDT

When the NBA season was suspended back in March, the Philadelphia 76ers were locked into the Eastern Conference's sixth seed. At the time, they had the Boston Celtics on their mind as that's who they would've played had the NBA restarted by skipping the rest of the regular season and going straight to playoffs.

But that's not the route the NBA would take. Instead, each of the 22 teams down in the bubble would have an eight-game schedule, referred to as 'seeding games.' The 76ers, who were tied with the Indiana Pacers record-wise, had an opportunity to move up beyond the sixth seed.

After falling to the Pacers during the first game of the restart, the Sixers lost the tie-breaker and failed to move up to the fifth seed. Six games later and the bracket is officially set in the East. The Sixers will end up playing the Boston Celtics after all in a seven-game series for the first time since the 2017-2018 run.

On Thursday, the NBA released the Eastern Conference's playoff schedule -- and the Sixers will begin their third-straight playoff run against Boston, with the series tipping off on Monday night next week.