The official release of the 2018-19 NBA regular season schedule is still a few weeks away, but we might have an inkling about who the Sixers will be playing on opening night.
Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe reported Wednesday that the nationally-televised opening night games on TNT could be the Sixers taking on the Boston Celtics and the Oklahoma City Thunder facing the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors.
If this rumor is true, this would be an exciting way to open up the 2018-19 NBA season. For starters, having Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant playing against each other, will always bring ratings because of the rivalry between the two superstars.
However, Sixers-Celtics could be a potential preview of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Last season, the Sixers opened up the home portion of their schedule against the Celtics. The Celtics beat the Sixers that night, 102-92.
These two teams also played each other in London, England, which turned out to be a good game. Boston came back in the game to beat Philadelphia once again.
But if you did not get enough of the rivalry, the two teams met up last year in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Even though the Celtics won the series in five games, there was no love lost between the two teams. The Sixers had ample opportunities to change the outcome of the series, but could not prevail.
Furthermore, both teams have great, young, talented players in Kyrie Irving, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, and Markelle Fultz, who all have the ability to take over games.
With LeBron James now playing in the Western Conference with the Los Angeles Lakers, the Eastern Conference is wide open for the taking. The Celtics, Sixers, Toronto Raptors, along with the other East playoff contenders will all have a chance to claim the top spot.
