Perfect storm responsible for 76ers' playoff run so far

When asked whether he would rather see the Chicago Bulls or the Miami Heat in the playoffs, Philadelphia 76ers’ Evan Turner responded that he would rather face the top-seeded Bulls.

For the casual fan this may have sounded a little foolish on the surface but Turner backed up his answer by saying that the 76ers matched up better with the Bulls than they did with the Heat.

Their regular season numbers actually supported his answer. The 76ers won one of their three regular season games against the Bulls and one of those two losses was fairly close.

The Heat on the other hand beat the 76ers in all four games of their regular season series and the first two times the 76ers faced the Heat they lost by no less than 20 points. Philadelphia’s last two losses were by seven points apiece but Dwyane Wade wasn’t even in the lineup for one of those.

So Philly got the team they wanted in the first round, then as luck would have it their path to the second round got even easier. The Bulls would lose their best player, Derrick Rose to a knee injury then lose their center Joakim Noah later in the series.

So now the 76ers have drawn the Boston Celtics in the second round. The 76ers actually won the season series with the Celtics 2-1 but of course this isn’t the same team they saw earlier in the season.

The Celtics are a veteran team and are extremely focused as their elimination win over the Atlanta Hawks showed but they are still a more vulnerable team than the Heat.

So if the 76ers are going to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since Allen Iverson took them to the NBA Finals back in 2001, then they will have to find the formula that helped them beat the Celtics twice in the regular season.

The Celtics have already taken Game 1 of the series but the 76ers can make it a series if they can defend home court and take at least one game in Boston.

It may not look like it now but with the Celtics banged up the way they are and with the Heat’s frontcourt looking a little vulnerable due to Chris Bosh’s latest injury, the 76ers may even have a chance to ride this perfect storm into another Finals appearance.

Roosevelt Hall is an NFL Blogger for The Sport Mentalist and an NBA Blogger for The Sport Mentalist 2. He is also a Sports Reporter for Pro Sports Lives. He can be contacted at RHall_TPFB@Yahoo.com and be sure to follow him on Twitter @sportmentalist.

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