BOSTON — It felt like the Boston Celtics had open shot after open shot down the stretch against the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday night. But when it mattered most, those good looks — especially from beyond the arc — did not find the net. It’s a major reason why the C’s ended up falling 109-100 to the Sixers in Game 7 at TD Garden, however, it feels shortsighted to blame the shooting woes and move on.
There was more to the loss than missed 3-pointers. The Celtics did shoot an abysmal 26.5 percent from deep, yet they had 2 more triples than the 76ers (13-11) and were 0-2 in the first-round series when their Atlantic Division rival won the 3-point battle, which isn’t exactly egregious.
“People didn’t say that when we had a 3-1 lead,” Celtics point guard Payton Pritchard replied in the locker room when asked if the Celtics relied too much on outside shooting. “We had good looks, and if we hit them, then nobody says anything. So, that’s the end of the story. You just got to make them.”
So, let’s listen to Pritchard and disregard the Celtics’ shooting for the time being. Where else did the Green Team go wrong in Game 7?
The Celtics made an ineffective lineup change
After squandering Game 5 at home and Game 6 on the road, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla knew he had to try something new in Game 7. Or, at least he was compelled to when Celtics star forward Jayson Tatum was unexpectedly ruled out for the contest with left knee stiffness just a few hours before tipoff.
Joe Mazzulla on Jayson Tatum’s injury;
“He came in today with knee discomfort.”
He later described him as “day-to-day.” pic.twitter.com/6HvkBndKAa
— Daniel Donabedian (@danield1214) May 2, 2026
As a result, and to the surprise of many, the Celtics trotted out a starting lineup consisting of center Luka Garza, wing Baylor Scheierman, and guard Ron Harper Jr. They joined usual starting guards Jaylen Brown and Derrick White to round out a first five that the Sixers surely didn’t see coming.
This change didn’t work though, as the Celtics quickly fell into a 9-0 hole and the three aforementioned players who had never started in a playoff game before tallied 0 points, 1 assist, 1 turnover, and 2 steals altogether in the first quarter.
“We had to adjust throughout the series,” Brown stated postgame. “Different lineups, different adjustments, and it just didn’t go our way.”
Mazzulla realized his experiment wasn’t working and pulled all of the new starters by the 5-minute mark. Unfortunately for the Celtics, a fair amount of damage was already done and things continued to spiral. They ended the first quarter down 13 points in a do-or-die game where they really could have benefitted from a hot start.
The Celtics weren’t equipped to handle Joel Embiid
While a double-digit deficit after the first frame wasn’t ideal for the Celtics, it was still manageable. Their largest issue, figuratively and literally, lied with 76ers star center Joel Embiid. The 7-footer dominated in Game 7 with a game-high 34 points to go along with 12 rebounds and 6 assists.
The Celtics threw their big men at him, but Embiid craftily found a way to get them in foul trouble (with the help of a few questionable whistles). Then Boston went small against the 2023 MVP, using Brown and even 6-foot-6 rookie Hugo Gonzalez to try to slow him down.
Jaylen Brown said he found out Jayson Tatum wasn’t playing tonight 45 minutes before the game.
He also credited Joel Embiid for pressuring the Celtics and mentioned that Embiid flopped for a few calls: pic.twitter.com/jSg7dcz4QN
— Daniel Donabedian (@danield1214) May 3, 2026
This worked at times and Embiid did struggle a bit in the fourth quarter, yet he still drained a couple of huge shots in the clutch and visited the free throw line. Simply put, the Celtics didn’t have a great defensive answer for him. They were more so waiting for him to physically decline and lose stamina later on since he did have an appendectomy in early April.
However, that strategy wasn’t as effective in Game 7 when Embiid already had 3 playoff games under his belt this series and was seemingly trending upwards in terms of health.
“What changed in this series is Joel Embiid came back,” Mazzulla admitted.
The Celtics didn’t have enough offensive help for Tatum, Brown, and Pritchard
Perhaps the Celtics could have made up for Embiid’s mid-series return if they had enough scoring support from those without the last names Tatum, Brown, and Pritchard.
Besides said trio, no Celtic was averaging more than 8.7 points per outing prior to Game 7. Some help finally arrived in the winner-takes-all showdown from guard Derrick White, yet his 26 points came on 26 shots and were far from efficient.
Celtics center Neemias Queta also stepped up with a series-high 17 points, but it was a little too late. If he had one of those performances during Game 5 or Game 6 the C’s might have been able to close the first round out early. Instead, Queta frequently found himself in foul trouble and forced Garza and center Nikola Vucevic into the rotation, putting Boston’s offense out of sync in the process.
There are plenty of other players, such as wing Jordan Walsh or 3-point specialist Sam Hauser, who could have given Boston more offensively in the playoffs. Rather than point fingers, the Celtics simply owned up to the fact that they collectively failed to extend their season.
“We played hard,” Brown stated. “I feel like we left it all out there tonight, and we came up short.”
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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: What went wrong for the Celtics in Game 7, first-round disappointment
