The Boston Celtics couldn’t have imagined their run through the 2026 NBA Playoffs would end in the first round when they held a 3-1 series lead over the Philadelphia 76ers on April 26. Unfortunately, the team couldn’t hold onto their advantage, losing Games 5, 6, and 7, and watching their season come to a shocking end.
The Celtics were among the favorites to win the Eastern Conference, let alone advance to the second round. Even though it was a season where they assumed Jayson Tatum wouldn’t be available, the Celtics earned a top seed and reintegrated Tatum into the lineup to great success. Nonetheless, an injury in Game 6 meant Tatum would miss Game 7, with the Celtics failing to win without the forward.
Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla was asked about becoming the first-ever head coach in franchise history to blow a 3-1 series lead in the Playoffs, sharing a unique answer in his post-game press conference where he compared this feeling to what he felt after winning the 2024 NBA Championship.
“The year we won, I felt just as empty as I did when we lost. The duality of going after something bigger than yourself with a group of people is that you’re always going to, there are two sides to every coin. You have to go after greatness. You have to accept the other side of that. And too many times, you know it’s all about winning, winning, winning, but you have to surrender to the idea that if you’re going after that, you’re gonna fail. And we fail by not winning, but we stick to the process of being able to do that.”
Mazzulla’s quotes are reminiscent of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s iconic statement after a first-round exit in the 2023 Playoffs, where he questioned why seasons are labeled as failures every time a team fails to win a title. Mazzulla has been on both sides, and his answer reflects the relative lack of meaning he drew from a title win relative to the other Playoff exits he’s had to face on the Celtics.
Given that the Celtics franchise is the most successful team in the NBA, joining the small list of teams that have blown 3-1 series leads is going to be a stain on the franchise’s history. However, it shouldn’t take away from what the team achieved over the regular season with one of the best records and net ratings in the NBA despite many predicting the 2025-26 season would be a ‘gap year’ for the franchise.
It has become a gap year now that they’ve been eliminated in the first round of the Playoffs. Tatum was unavailable for the final game, and it looks like Jaylen Brown might not be the No. 1 option on a title team he hoped he could prove this season.
The Celtics will go back to the drawing board this summer, with coach Mazzulla definitely already looking for ways to make this team return to the mountaintop next season.
