76ers vs Celtics: Will Boston be challenged in the first round? Series keys, calendar and prediction
The Boston Celtics, the second seed in the Eastern Conference, face the seventh-seeded Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the tournament. 2026 NBA Playoffs. The Atlantic Division rivals met in the postseason three times from 2018-23, and the Celtics combination of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown advanced against Joel Embiid’s Sixers each time.
Plan | Chance | Collapse of the Celtics | Collapse of the 76ers
Head to head | Match worth watching | Key question | Forecast
East Previews: Hawks-Knicks • Raptors-Knights
Western previews: Wolves-Nuggets • Rockets-Lakers
Program of the series
Game 1: Sunday, April 19 in Boston (1 p.m., ABC)
Game 2: Tuesday, April 21 in Boston (7 p.m., Peacock)
Game 3: Friday, April 24 in Philadelphia (7 p.m., Prime)
Game 4: Sunday, April 26 in Philadelphia (7 p.m., NBC)
*Game 5: Tuesday April 28th in Boston (TBD)
*Game 6: Thursday 30 April in Philadelphia (to be defined)
*Game 7: Saturday May 2nd in Boston (to be defined)
Announcement
*if necessary
Series betting odds
(Via BetMGM)
Boston Celtics (-900)
Philadelphia 76ers (+600)
What we know about the Celtics
The Celtics lost All-NBA first-team mainstay Jayson Tatum to a ruptured Achilles tendon in the second round of the 2025 playoffs, where their title defense ended against the New York Knicks. Additionally, they faced a huge luxury tax in Tatum’s absence, reducing the salaries of Kristaps Porziņģis, Jrue Holiday, Al Horford and Luke Kornet.
Many have thought for them to take a gap year (e.g., rehab Tatum, avoid taxes, maybe even collect a lottery pick, and refocus their attention on the 2026-27 season). Only coach Joe Mazzulla, a maniacal competitor, did not allow this. Jaylen Brown, who had his own First Team All-NBA campaign, wouldn’t let it happen.
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Everyone in Boston deserves credit for stepping up in Tatum’s absence. Guards Derrick White and Payton Pritchard took on additional responsibilities on the offensive end. Neemias Queta is a Most Improved Player candidate at center, where Luka Garza is an X-factor. Unreleased wings Sam Hauser, Baylor Scheierman, Hugo Gonzalez and Jordan Walsh each made an impact in victories. Anfernee Simons also made a significant contribution, before being traded at the deadline for Nikola Vučević.
The Celtics played so well as a collective, in fact, that they allowed Tatum to get back into his groove, sooner than expected, on a second-place team. It wasn’t an easy decision. Did he push himself too hard to return too soon? Could the Celtics still compete, even with a healthy Tatum, considering all the talent they lost in the summer?
So far, Tatum has answered both questions with flying colors. No, he didn’t come back too soon. Averaging 22-10-5 in 33 minutes per game in 16 appearances, he’s a lot like his old self, just a little less explosive. (And every game is more explosive.) And yes, Boston can do it This Brown, This Tatum e This supporting cast of overachievers. They are the betting favorites to emerge from the East for a reason.
What we know about the 76ers
Much could be said about these 76ers from their 117-116 win in Boston on opening night of the regular season. Joel Embiid’s availability was questionable, even though he was in uniform, and Paul George was recovering from offseason knee surgery, so Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe instead established themselves as Philadelphia’s future.
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That’s how it was for most of the season. Maxey has been an electrifying playmaker all year, averaging 28.3 points and 6.6 assists per game. He will almost certainly make an All-NBA team. Edgecombe will almost certainly finish third in the Rookie of the Year race behind Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg and Charlotte Hornets guard Kon Knueppel.
Quentin Grimes rounds out a solid guard rotation that would have been even deeper if executive Daryl Morey hadn’t traded Jared McCain for future draft consideration.
Meanwhile, Embiid missed more than half the season for the third straight year. When he was on the floor, he was still very scary, both as a player — averaging 27-8-4 on 49/33/85 shooting splits in 31.6 minutes per game — and as an injury risk. Sixers fans held their breath with every fall. In the end, it was an appendectomy that will (in all likelihood) cost him his entire first-round series. It’s like the 76ers are cursed.
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George also missed 45 games, including 25 due to suspension. The nine-time All-Star was playing his best basketball in a Sixers uniform, averaging 24-6-4 on 48/47/75 shooting splits in a seven-game stretch, when the news of Embiid’s appendix broke.
So, now the Sixers have Maxey, Edgecombe and George but no Embiid. Those lineups may still be +5.1 points per 100 meaningful possessions, per Cleaning the Glass, but they feature a lot of Dominick Barlow or Kelly Oubre Jr. at the 4 and Andre Drummond or Adem Bona at the 5. Which is to say: Embiid’s presence will be missed.
Head to head
The Celtics and 76ers split the regular season series, 2-2.
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Three of the four meetings took place before Thanksgiving, two of them before the calendar flipped to November. Even the fourth, March 1, which looked more like what we might see in this series, didn’t boast Tatum or George for a minute.
Early in the season, the Celtics relied heavily on Simons and Josh Minott, Chris Boucher and Xavier Tillman, guys who are no longer on the roster. Those minutes went elsewhere, mostly to Tatum. Scheierman and Gonzalez have worked their way into the rotation. The central group formed by Queta, Garza and Vučević lives up to expectations, given the exits of Porziņģis, Horford and Kornet.
The point is: Boston’s rotation looks a lot different now than it did when the 76ers gave them a pair of one-possession losses in the first few weeks of the season. The same could be said of the 76ers, who counted Justin Edwards as their leading scorer in a 102-100 win over the Celtics on Nov. 11. Take everything with a grain of salt.
Know this: Between them, Maxey and Edgecombe averaged 50 points (on 46.4% 3-point shooting!), 12.3 assists and 9.5 rebounds in four games against the Celtics this season. Stopping them, with George, even without Embiid, is no easy feat.
Match worth watching
Tyrese Maxey vs. Derrick White
Since Pritchard, the 2025 Sixth Man of the Year, started Boston’s first three games against Philadelphia this season, he handed the bulk of the defensive duties to Maxey. Pritchard, who is fast, did a good job, even better than White, at least statistically.
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But I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that White — Boston’s All-Defensive candidate — will give the assignment to the 76ers’ All-NBA guard to start the series. His ability to pickpocket (1.1 steals per game) and hit (1.3 blocks per game) will make Maxey think twice about every possession, even if he had success against White.
White was also very successful against Maxey, scoring 20 points in less than 10 minutes when paired with the Sixers guard, according to NBA tracking data. The Celtics scored 161 points per 100 possessions whenever Brown called Maxey into action. Tatum will also take it out on Maxey. All the Celtics will do it. That’s a problem, especially if and when Embiid isn’t there to add a layer of protection to the rim behind him.
The Sixers were outscored by 1.3 points per 100 possessions in the 40.5 minutes per game Maxey was on the court against the Celtics this season, and that will spell trouble for Philadelphia if the trend continues. Slot Edgecombe next to Maxey, and the Sixers outscored the Celtics by 1.8 points per 100 possessions in 127 minutes.
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Add George to the mix, exploit the defense further, leaving Maxey and Edgecombe on the islands, and maybe Philadelphia has something, or so the thinking goes. George hasn’t played a second against Boston this season. On the other hand, the Celtics also added a wing of their own, and theirs is a 28-year-old marvel of modern medicine.
Key question
How close can Jayson Tatum get to peak Jayson Tatum?
He has the rebounding, the driving ability, the shooting form, the playmaking, most of what turned Tatum into Tatum. But he has neither the elevation nor the explosiveness.
He’s close to both of them, he seems to get closer with every game. He has posted 15-12-7 in 27 minutes since debuting on March 7. He broke 30 minutes three games later and scored 30 points for the first time this year in just his 11th game. A few nights later, he posted a 25-18-11 triple-double. Tatum averaged 22-10-5 on 41/33/82 shooting splits in 16 regular season games — remarkable, given that he’s 11 months removed from surgery on his torn right Achilles tendon — but we all think he could get even better, right?
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After all, the last time we saw him on a basketball court in the playoffs, he was putting together a 42-8-4 masterpiece in 40 minutes, just before his Achilles gave out. He was the best American-born living player and one of the five best players on Earth.
That’s basically what Brown has been for the Celtics this entire season. If Tatum can return to an All-NBA level, he and Brown will once again have the right to be the best duo in the league, and then it won’t just be Philadelphia that has to worry about Boston.
Concerns about Tatum and Brown and whether they can coexist are comical at this point. They clinched the title and were five minutes away from a 3-1 lead in another NBA Finals. They won 15 playoff series together. Few duets have ever been so successful. Tatum and Brown have never lost in the first round as a tandem, and they have a supporting cast, unexpected as it may be, that can benefit them.
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They are 28 and 29 years old respectively and are in the prime of their careers. At their peak, they are perennial title contenders. The Achilles injury threatened Tatum’s peak. We think he can return to those heights. But will he be able to this year? If each series is an opportunity for Tatum to find another gear, meeting this moment is the next step.
Prediction: Celtics in six
Without Embiid, the 76ers were outscored by 3.2 points per 100 possessions, allowing 116.3 points per 100 possessions – a bottom-10 mark. Even if Maxey and Edgecombe win their backcourt matchups, especially against White and Pritchard, how does Philadelphia battle Tatum and Brown when George is its only star up front?
Given all of Boston’s efficiencies – fewest turnovers per game, third in 3-pointers made per game and top five in offensive rebounding rate – it’s hard to imagine the Sixers producing enough points, even with Maxey, Edgecombe and George as options.