The Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers have a rivalry that spans back many decades, and arena workers at the Wells Fargo Center weren’t about to let the pandemic spoil that on Tuesday night.
While there were no fans in attendance for the preseason game between the Celtics and Sixers, the visiting team still had to deal with “you suck!” chants. Boston coach Brad Stevens spoke after the game about the feel of playing in an empty arena, and he applauded the 76ers for piping in some very specific crowd noise that gave the game an authentic feel.
Brad Stevens after the #Celtics preseason game Tuesday on the piped-in crowd noise: "I appreciate Philly, when they announced our starting lineup, they did the 'you suck' chant anyways…I missed all those people wishing me Happy Holidays in their own special way." @ABC6 pic.twitter.com/fxWTH6nUnm
— Nick Coit (@NCoitABC6) December 16, 2020
The Celtics swept the Sixers in the playoffs this past season and beat them 4-1 back in 2018, so the rivalry has been fairly lopsided in recent years. It has still given us some entertaining moments, however, so kudos to Philly for trying to keep that going during an unprecedented time.
Watching teams play in empty or mostly empty arenas is going to be strange, but players should be accustomed to it by now. Mark Cuban recently revealed how much money teams stand to lose without fans, so hopefully things return to normal before the end of the season.
