For the 24th time in NBA history and the sixth time this century, the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers will meet in the playoffs.
The storied rivals will face off in the first round, marking the first Boston-Philly playoff matchup since the 2023 Eastern Conference semifinals when the C’s defeated the Sixers in seven games. This year, the Celtics earned the No. 2 seed with a 56-26 record, while the Sixers secured the No. 7 seed with a 45-37 record and a win over the Orlando Magic in the No. 7 vs. No. 8 play-in tournament matchup on Wednesday night.
Boston and Philadelphia played four times in the regular season, splitting their series 2-2. The C’s were without Jayson Tatum for all four matchups due to his Achilles injury, but the superstar is healthy and looking like himself just in time for the postseason.
As for the Sixers, star big man Joel Embiid’s status remains up in the air after he underwent an emergency appendectomy. If he’s out, Philly will lean heavily on Tyrese Maxey and Paul George to carry the load.
The Celtics have won five of their last six first-round series in a sweep or just five games. The 76ers have their work cut out for them as they look to ruin that trend.
Check out our full Celtics-76ers preview below:
Series schedule
- Game 1: 76ers vs. Celtics; Sunday, April 19 (1 p.m. ET, ABC)
- Game 2: 76ers vs. Celtics; Tuesday, April 21 (7 p.m. ET, Peacock)
- Game 3: Celtics at 76ers; Friday, April 24 (7 p.m. ET, Amazon Prime)
- Game 4: Celtics at 76ers; Sunday, April 26 (7 p.m. ET, NBC)
- Game 5: 76ers vs. Celtics; Tuesday, April 28 (TBD)*
- Game 6: Celtics at 76ers; Thursday, April 30 (TBD)*
- Game 7: 76ers vs. Celtics; Saturday, May 2 (TBD)*
*If necessary
Regular season head-to-head
Oct. 22 at Boston: 76ers 117, Celtics 116
Oct. 31 at Philadelphia: Celtics 109, 76ers 108
Nov. 11 at Philadelphia: 76ers 102, Celtics 100
March 1 at Boston: Celtics 114, 76ers 98
Celtics vs. 76ers stats comparison
Here’s a breakdown of Boston and Philadelphia’s season stats and NBA rankings from the 2025-26 season. The Celtics have the advantage in every category except points per game.
The Celtics will win the series if…
The Jays are the Jays.
It’s simple: If Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are themselves, the Celtics win this series handily.
As good as Tyrese Maxey is, the Sixers don’t have the firepower to keep up when the Jays are on their game. Philly’s two wins against Boston came by one and two points, and Tatum missed both matchups. With him back in the lineup and looking like his superstar self, the Sixers will need Maxey, Paul George and rookie V.J. Edgecombe to play to their ceilings to have a chance (assuming Embiid misses most or all of the series).
Maxey could take over a game or two and make things interesting, but vintage performances from Brown and Tatum will be almost impossible to overcome for a team that’s middle-of-the-road on both ends of the floor.
The 76ers will win the series if…
They keep it close.
The Celtics should dominate this series. They’re superior in virtually every category (except points per game, oddly enough), and they’ll have Jayson Tatum back after missing him for all four matchups against the Sixers during the regular season.
But if their usually stout defense allows the Maxey/George/Edgecombe trio to get hot and Philadelphia finds a way to keep it close in the fourth quarter, they could be in trouble.
As our Chris Forsberg noted, the Sixers owned the best clutch-time defense in the NBA, holding opponents to a defensive rating of 98.6 in 174 minutes of clutch play. Both of their regular-season wins against the Celtics were clutch-time wins decided by one or two points.
The C’s must keep their foot on the gas and prevent the 76ers from hanging around late in games. If they can accomplish that, they should cruise into the East semifinals.
Odds
The Celtics are heavy favorites vs. the 76ers and have opened as 10.5-point favorites to win Game 1 on Sunday. Here are the full series odds (via DraftKings).
- Celtics to win the series: -900
- 76ers to win the series: +600
Prediction
Celtics in five.
We’ll give the Sixers one game in Philly, because Tyrese Maxey or Paul George will take over on an off night for Boston, or perhaps Edgecombe will catch fire like when he dropped 30 against the Celtics on Opening Night. Otherwise, it’ll be another thorough first-round beatdown by the C’s.
We mentioned the Jays as an obvious advantage for Boston, but big man Neemias Queta is a sneaky X-factor. He has been a revelation all season, and he could give the Celtics another advantage at the rim, especially if Embiid is out. Even if Embiid is active, Queta has shown in previous matchups that he can hang with the seven-time All-Star.
There’s no need to complicate this. The Celtics are the better team in almost every metric, and that will be evident in this first-round clash.
