I’m definitely rooting for Philly over Miami on Wednesday. I’d much rather have Philly, Milwaukee, and NY on the same side of the bracket v. facing a mostly healthy Sixers squad in the first round. The Sixers, when healthy, have been very good and are probably the second best team in the East. They don’t scare me, but it’s easy to see a series with them going 6 or 7, whereas the Celtics should roll over the Heat. I’d rather this team get to continue to conserve energy and get rest through shorter series through the ECF than the alternative.
Also, I think it’s extremely unlikely Philly would lose to the Hawks or Bulls (a healthy Sixers team is much much better than them), whereas it is only unlikely Miami would do so (Miami is definitely the better team, with the better coach, and is playoff tested, but the talent gap is a lot less). Best case scenario remains one of those two advancing.