Paul George Shares Thoughts on Playing Celtics, Knicks on Sixers

Sixers star Paul George looks forward to facing the Celtics and the Knicks more in 2024-2025.

Dec 23, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Clippers forward Paul George (13) moves the ball against Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday (4) during the third quarter at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Hui-USA TODAY Sports / Jonathan Hui-USA TODAY Sports

With Paul George leaving the Los Angeles Clippers for the Philadelphia 76ers, he lands back in the Eastern Conference, where he’ll face different teams more frequently. Now that he’s on the Sixers, George is set to battle it out with the New York Knicks and the Boston Celtics at least four times per season.

“Being out west for the past seven years of my career to come back east, I think that alone excites me,” George recently said during a sitdown with Tyrese Maxey on Podcast P, Presented by Wave Sports.

For George, he looks forward to the battles with the Celtics and the Knicks, especially considering the two teams placed in the top two seeds in the East this past season.

“Boston is the team to beat,” George stated. “New York is an iconic place to play. I miss playing there twice within a season. And so that alone is enough to just get you excited about what's to come.”

The nine-time All-Star was added to the Sixers after discussions broke down with the Clippers while free agency was approaching. The Sixers went into free agency with teams such as the Celtics and the Knicks in mind. Now that they’ve added George, the 76ers hope that George will issue the team a notable boost, especially against the Celtics and the Knicks, who found plenty of success against Philadelphia recently.

In four games during the 2023-2024 NBA season, the Celtics won all but one of their games against the Sixers. After falling short 106-103 in early November, the Celtics fired off three-straight victories over the Sixers.

Historically, the Sixers have a good track record in battles against the Knicks, but that wasn’t the case last year. Two games in South Philly resulted in blowout wins for the Knicks. A low-scoring battle at Madison Square Garden in March resulted in a Sixers win, but two nights later, New York dominated to finish the regular season series 3-1.

The Sixers and the Knicks met again in the playoffs for a series that spanned six games. Similar to the regular season, the Knicks found success against the 76ers. New York won 4-2 and advanced to the second round, while the Sixers got an early start to their offseason game planning.

With the addition of George, the Sixers hope the All-Star’s presence can help them find better success in 2023-2024 when it comes to the key Atlantic Division battles.

“I’m just looking forward to those battles,” George finished. “I already know how the west was, right? The west was getting crazy. There's so much parity out west now the east, it is going to be a different battle. It's a different gameplay I feel like out east than it is out west. So then just trying to establish our dominance, amongst two other dominant teams within the division, let alone the conference. So I'm just looking forward to that.”

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