Here are the viewership numbers from Game 7 between the Celtics and Sixers, which was the most watched conference semi in 12 years on ABC:

You know what this says to me? In the last 12 years no one has seen a more gutless NBA team than the one they saw Sunday. . I’m sure it’s exactly what the majority of them were hoping to see too. Not only do the Sixers and Celtics sell papers but people love storylines. Boy were there storylines! Will James Harden fail in the playoffs again? Will Doc Rivers fail in the playoffs again? Will the league MVP, who is skirting oh so closely to the loser line of demarcation, fail in playoffs again? Lucky for them they got what they paid for while Jayson Tatum, who was having the loser narrative written for him by some, rose to another level.

Poetic really. The tale of two franchises.

One has been to the Eastern Conference Finals five times in the last seven years with three different coaches while we can’t get out of the second round. One franchise has a walk in the park to another NBA Finals appearance and we’re left wondering do you give a 33 year old guy, who needs a chaperone apparently, the max. You could go on and on with comparisons between both, but at the end of the day like Joel Embiid said, “It’s not a rivalry.”

The Celtics are the happily married couple and we’re fatty, sideburns lady, and the mutants at Table 9. Love stinks:

 

P.S. I’m hoping this is my last Sixers article for a little because I don’t know how many different ways you can write about a team disappointing you over 48 hours. But I’m honestly afraid we’re just getting started.