It’s put-up-or-shut-up for the Boston Celtics.
The Celtics’ 2025-26 season could’ve been over months ago if not for pride. Ownership made the calculated decision to reset the team’s finances. A large portion of the fanbase openly called for a tank in anticipation of a loaded incoming draft class.
They had every excuse to punt on the season and look ahead.
Instead, with enough of their 2024 championship core remaining, the Celtics decided to treat this season with the franchise’s usual playoff standard. They won 56 games, earned the Eastern Conference’s No. 2 seed, became betting favorites to win their conference, and even took a 3-1 series lead over their most historic rival, the Philadelphia 76ers.
Boston led 63-50 in the third quarter of a potential series-clinching Game 5. The 76ers flipped the script on them, won by 16 points, and then dominated the Celtics in Game 6 — leading to a do-or-die Game 7.
Suddenly, what looked like a meteoric rise to title contention is now on life support, with the alternative being a historic collapse.
Where’s MVP candidate Jaylen Brown?
Jaylen Brown waited patiently for his chance to lead a team. He got the chance this year and ran with it.
Brown led the Celtics in scoring, the entire NBA in field goals made, and Boston’s offense to the fifth-highest points-per-possession rate in NBA history.
His production led the way as the Celtics defied all expectations. But with that success coming to a screeching halt in the first round of the playoffs, Brown is failing to live up to the MVP-caliber standard he set for himself.
In Boston’s Game 5 and 6 losses, Brown scored just 40 points on 44.6% true shooting. He recorded only seven assists to eight turnovers in those games.
“I got nothing for you,” Brown said when asked about his 10 offensive fouls committed through six games.
What has been a season-long victory lap for Brown now teeters on the edge of an embarrassing first-round exit. Blowing a 3-1 lead would be a devastating way for this season in many ways.
This Game 7 will be legacy-defining for not just this year’s Celtics but for how Brown’s career year will be remembered.
Identity Crisis
It’s almost as if the Celtics forgot what got them here.
They’re counting on Jayson Tatum to carry the offense like he didn’t miss the first 62 games of the season. Jaylen Brown, who was available, and who carried lots of the offense, is trying to bulldoze his way to the rim with the rest of his team standing and watching.
The Celtics’ offense survived such drastic offseason overhauling because, alongside the superstar talent, the others were empowered for hustle, off-ball movement, and offensive rebounding. Their effort level and the depth of players that were contributing were their superpowers.
It feels as though they’ve scrapped the nuances that made their regular season special and are deciding to go as far as their stars take them. Where is the support?
Payton Pritchard and Derrick White have seen reduced roles, despite being essential to Boston’s offensive structure all season. Both were effective pick-and-roll initiators and secondary drivers. In this series, those responsibilities have largely disappeared.
Superstars often decide NBA playoff series. The Celtics need the Jays to deliver. But they also need to recognize that the highest ceiling of this group comes from a more balanced team game.
What Can They Get From the Bench?
During the regular season, Head Coach Joe Mazzulla used about a dozen players to build creative, matchup-driven rotations. He challenged his bench to step up and bring a disruptive energy that threw their opposition off. The 76ers looked plenty comfortable in their past two games.
It’s shocking to see Mazzulla’s mad-scientist experimentation absent from this series.
Sam Hauser isn’t bringing much for someone playing 22.3 minutes per game. He hasn’t been bad— shooting 13-32 (40.6%) from three, grabbing offensive rebounds, and is largely fulfilling his role.
But in a playoff series where the Celtics are executing poorly and look like the less talented team, the lack of creativity is uncharacteristic of what the season looked like.
Boston’s use of all three centers is new. Even feels more due to crippling foul trouble from Neemias Queta than a scheme choice, though.
Was the point of the bench’s regular-season usage and the testing of drastic in-game strategies if Mazzulla planned to play this series with a vanilla approach?
A Sliding-Doors Game 7
The Celtics haven’t been gut-checked like this since the early years of the Jays’ era.
They had no say in how their season would end in 2025. Their season ended with 2:58 remaining in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals as Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles.
None of Boston’s opponents in the 2024 title run even pushed them to Game 6.
The last time the C’s were tested like this was the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals in Mazzulla’s first season. After losing the first three games of the series, they were forced to look themselves in the mirror and decide if they were going to go down in such embarrassing fashion.
“Don’t let us get one. Don’t let us get tonight,” Jaylen Brown said before Game 4. “If we want to win, we have to play better basketball than them.”
Brown’s words were those of a player who has known nothing but the playoffs in his career. It’s a wisdom that in back-to-the-wall scenarios, it’s about execution.
The Celtics won three straight to become the fourth team in NBA history to force a Game 7 after falling behind 0-3. Although the comeback effort came short in part thanks to a Tatum sprained ankle in the opening minutes, the team showed the kind of DNA they had to overcome adversity.
Facing another embarrassing elimination, Game 7 against the 76ers is an inflection point that could cost several people their futures in Boston.
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