NBA PLAYOFFS Sixers and Celtics to renew rivalry Posted: Friday, May 11, 2012 5:00 pm | Updated: 8:15 am, Sat May 12, 2012. By Tom Moore Staff writer | http://tinyurl.com/7wfpx3k The 76ers thoroughly enjoyed Thursday's stirring 79-78 Game 6 victory over the Bulls that moved them into the second round. But coach Doug Collins was already thinking about facing the Celtics in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals on his walk to meet the media Thursday evening. Game 1 is Saturday night in Boston (8 on TNT), with Game 2 on Monday (7 on TNT) before the series shifts to Philadelphia for Games 3 and 4 (Wednesday at 7 and Friday at a time TBA). Collins knows the Celtics, with their experience — core players Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo — have been together for five years and are more familiar with each other than the relatively young Sixers. The Celtics won the NBA title in 2008, which was their first season together. "I told them, ‘Now we're in the high-rent district. Now you start finding what it's all about,' " Collins said. Though Pierce, Garnett and Allen are past their primes, they are still dangerous. "Boston is a great team," said Andre Iguodala, the hero of Thursday's win by swishing two free throws with 2.2 seconds remaining. "They've been here before and won championships, so we're going to learn from this experience. We've definitely got to play better." The Celtics will try to play against the Sixers just how the Bulls wanted to - slow the game down and make it a grind-it-out, half-court game. The Sixers, on the other hand, will attempt to get out on the fast break as often as possible. They are not a very good half-court team, as evidenced by shooting below 40 percent in the last four games vs. Chicago — three of which they managed to win. It'll once again be a matter of which team can impose its will on the other. The injury-riddled Bulls were more successful in that aspect against the Sixers, yet lost in six games. Collins is likely to have Evan Turner, who began starting in Game 2, defend Rondo. Keeping Rondo, who averaged 16.8 points, 11.8 assists and 5.6 rebounds in the first-round drubbing of the Hawks, from getting into the lane is one of the Sixers' top priorities. Iguodala will probably match up against Pierce, with Elton Brand on Brandon Bass and Spencer Hawes on Garnett, who starts as an undersized center. Boston's Avery Bradley starts at shooting guard, with Allen coming off the bench. Jrue Holiday would likely draw Bradley. The Celtics are banged up. Pierce is nursing a sprained MCL, Bradley has a sore rotator cuff and Allen is bothered by a sore right ankle. The Sixers, who were off Friday, won two of three against the Celtics during the regular season. They handed Boston, which was playing its third game in three nights, a 103-71 shellacking March 7 at the Wells Fargo Center, which was the worst defeat of the Pierce-Garnett-Allen era. The Sixers also prevailed, 99-86, at home on March 23. The Celtics were on the second day of a back-to-back set, while the Sixers were off the night before. Boston dispatched the Sixers, 103-78, at the TD Garden in the teams' finale April 8. Both teams played on April 7. "We played well against them, but it's 0-0 now," Iguodala said. "We caught them at a great time during the season with back-to-backs and three games in three nights." The eighth-seeded Sixers led the Atlantic Division for more than three months before the Celtics overtook them on the way to the division crown and accompanying No. 4 seed. Garnett told reporters Friday that the Sixers are "a tough team, man." "They probably have five to seven guys who average double figures that can kill you night in and night out," he said. "They play very, very hard. They play with a lot of energy. They play together. Doug has those guys believing." The Sixers and Celtics are playing in the postseason for the first time since Boston won, 3-2, in the 2002 first round. They haven't met in a best-of-seven series since the 1985 conference final (a 4-1 Celtics victory). The teams played in the conference finals four times from 1980-85, with each winning twice — one time each in seven games (Celtics in 1981, Sixers in '82). They've faced off 11 times since the Syracuse Nationals became the Sixers in 1963, with the Celtics going 7-4. Prediction: Celtics in 7. Tom Moore, 215-345-3127; email, [email protected]; Twitter, @tmoorepburbs --

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