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Sports Illustrated

Sport

Ryan Phillips

Celtics Season Grades: Judging Boston’s Year After Shocking First-Round Exit to 76ers

Celtics Boston (Organization) 76ers Jayson Tatum Jaylen Brown Philadelphia (Organization) the Boston Celtics Derrick White Joel Embiid Joe Mazzulla

The Boston Celtics bowed out of the postseason Saturday night after losing Game 7 of their opening-round series at home against the 76ers. A season that was so promising collapsed as Boston blew a 3-1 lead.

With Jayson Tatum out for most of the regular season while recovering from a torn Achilles tendon, the Celtics deftly managed his absence and remained one of the NBA’s best teams. They earned the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference and entered the playoffs buoyed by Tatum’s return. They looked like a contender, but fell apart when it mattered most.

It was a tale of two seasons for Boston. The regular season was a clear success, while the postseason was a mess. Let's take a look at what happened and hand out some grades.

Regular season: A-

With Tatum out, few expected the Celtics to compete for the best record in the Eastern Conference, but that’s exactly what they did. Boston finished the regular season 56-26, four games behind the first-place Pistons, and in possession of the No. 2 seed in the East. An MVP-level season by Jaylen Brown and several other guys stepping up into more prominent roles solidified the rotation in Tatum’s absence.

Brown finished fourth in the NBA, averaging a career-high 28.7 points, while adding 6.9 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.0 steals in 34.4 minutes per game. He hit 47.7% of his shots from the field and 34.7% from three-point range. It was a phenomenal season from the 2024 NBA Finals MVP.

Payton Pritchard was a revelation during the 2025-26 campaign. The 28-year-old guard averaged career-highs in points (17.0), rebounds (3.9), assists (5.2) and minutes (32.4) per game. Derrick White had an outstanding season as well, as he averaged career-bests in points (16.5), assists (5.4), steals (1.1) and minutes (34.1) per game.

Despite being short-handed, Joe Mazzulla’s squad was outstanding on both ends of the floor. The Celtics finished second in offensive rating at 120.0 and fourth in defensive rating. That net rating of 8.3 wasn’t far off the team’s mark from 2024-25 (9.4) when Tatum was healthy. A lot of credit has to go to Mazzulla, who managed the lineup well all season and coaxed solid performances out of several role players.

When Tatum returned late in the season, he fit seamlessly back into the lineup in the 16 games he played. The six-time All-Star looked largely like his old self, averaging 21.8 points, 10.0 rebounds and 5.3 assists in 32.6 minutes per game.

Given how much of a disruption Tatum’s absence and return were, the Celtics deserve a ton of credit for the regular season they had. If they’d won the East, it would be an A, but an A- is a fair mark.

Playoffs: D-

For as great as the regular season was, the playoffs were largely a disaster.

Boston took a 3-1 lead on the 76ers and looked to be cruising to an easy first-round win. It made sense, the Celtics were great in the regular season and had Tatum back, while Philadelphia was a play-in team and Joel Embiid was out of the lineup after having his appendix removed. After a 128-96 blowout victory in Game 4, the series looked over. The Sixers had other plans.

The Celtics allowed themselves to get blown out at home in Game 5, losing 113-97, while Philly largely controlled Game 6 in a 106-93 victory. Boston had home-court advantage in Game 7 but came out flat, fell behind early, and played from behind all night in a 109-100 loss. It was an embarrassing way to end what had been such a promising season.

In the series, Boston’s offensive rating was 114.9, down nearly five points from the regular season, but the alarming stats came on defense. The team’s defensive rating ballooned to 110.0.

After a great regular season, Derrick White’s offense disappeared against the Sixers. Despite racking up 26 points in Game 7, he only averaged 11.1 per game and shot 27.3% from deep, after hitting 39.4% during the regular season. Pritchard also fell apart against Philly. He averaged 14.6 points per game, but only hit 30.9% of his three-point attempts after hitting 37.7% entering the postseason.

Tatum missed Game 7 due to stiffness in his left knee, but he didn’t make a difference in the previous two games, so that can’t be used as an excuse. The Celtics flopped, and there’s no getting around it.

A team that played so well without its biggest star all season ran out of gas when it mattered most. It will be a long offseason assessing what went wrong and how to fix it.