The Philadelphia 76ers play host to the Boston Celtics in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference first-round playoffs in Orlando on Friday.

The Celtics (2-0) looked like one of the best teams at the end of the regular season, winning four of their final five games. The only loss they did have was the finale in which they rested everyone. It's easy to call that Game 2 win impressive when you look at the 27-point spread, particularly when you take into consideration that they outscored the Sixers by 34 points across the final three quarters. Thay happened to do that without Gordon Hayward too, who appears to be out for the rest of the series with an ankle issue. They moved Marcus Smart into the starting lineup to take his spot and that's quite the luxury to have. Jayson Tatum was the star in that game though, providing 33 points, five rebounds and five assists. It appears he's ascended into that superstardom pace we've been waiting for and that's bad news for everyone else.

The Sixers (0-2) look lost without Ben Simmons. Where they're really missing him is on the defensive end of the floor. Simmons was the primary defender against Tatum in the regular season and it's becoming clear that they have no one else who can cover him. They could get a guy like Matisse Thybulle in there but that hampers this club way too much on the offensive end. The simple fact is, this team doesn't have enough depth to match up with this Celtics roster. Joel Embiid can only do so much and he'd need historic series' from Josh Richardson, Al Horford and Tobias Harris if they are to advance. What's funny is that we can technically call this a home game for Philly and that's a small silver-lining when you see that Philly is 31-4 at home and 12-25 on the road this season. That may be another reason why they are struggling but they just need to pretend like they're in their home building to get a little extra motivation.

The season series is now sitting at 3-3 between these teams.