The story of the 2025-2026 Boston Celtics is a complicated one. A team that blew expectations out of the water after a 56-win season, that, fair or not, reset those expectations going into the playoffs. The team then fell dramatically short, blowing the first 3-1 series lead in franchise history, and, to dump salt into the wound, they did it against the Philadelphia 76ers. A lot went wrong in the 3-1 collapse. Let’s power rank the reasons why the Celtics are watching the second round of the playoffs from their couch.
When assigning credit or blame to a basketball team, I tend to shy away from assigning it to the coach. I believe that in basketball, players have an outsized impact on game results compared to other sports. It’s a simple equation: fewer players on the court or field equals more individual player impact. It’s one reason coaches are more valuable and impactful in the NFL than in the NBA. That being said, I have Joe Mazzulla at the top of my list when it comes to why the Celtics were bounced early this season.
There was a litany of head-scratching decisions from Mazzulla throughout the first round. His decision to turn his back on the identity of the team that won 56 games for him triggered a domino effect that culminated in the collapse. The 2025-26 Boston Celtics racked up wins by being the deeper, harder-playing team every night. Mazzulla left that identity behind immediately to start the playoffs.
Over the last 15 regular-season games, Baylor Scheierman played 24 minutes per game and contributed 8 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists while shooting 45.5% from three-point range. Scheierman peaked with monster performances late in the season in MSG and a 30-point masterclass in the last game of the regular season. In Game 1 of the first round, Baylor played three minutes going into the fourth quarter. This decision had a compounding impact on the team, as these minutes were funnelled towards Jayson Tatum, who was tasked with playing over 42 minutes in Game 3, and tasked with a heavy load in any game that became close. Tatum himself was not surprised that it led to an injury.
“A little bit to be expected, I was away for ten and a half months, and then I came back, and I’m playing every other day, and I’m playing 36-40 minutes. So it’s not unusual that something would come up.”
Not only did Mazzulla abandon what made this team special, but he also tightened his rotation and loaded his superstar with minutes after an Achilles rupture.
There are additional micro decisions that I think really hurt the Celtics. Tyrese Maxey fried the faces off of the Celtics in their first-round matchup, dumping 26.9 points per game on an efficient 57.9% true shooting on the heads of the Celtics. There was one player on the Celtics this season who showed they could slow Maxey down: Jordan Walsh. Walsh held Maxey to 18.4% true shooting in the regular season and 54% true shooting in the first round. Mazzulla played Walsh an inexplicable 5 minutes in Game 7. Walsh should have been in the starting lineup several games prior.
Last on the Mazzulla front. The decision not to play Payton Pritchard more minutes was baffling. When Pritchard was on the court, he gave the Celtics offense a zip that wasn’t there with him off the court. Without Pritchard on the court, the team and specifically the offense, cratered. With Pritchard on the court in the first round, the Celtics had an 11.7 net rating; with him off the court, the Celtics have a negative 14.1 net rating. Zooming in on the offense, with Pritchard on the court, the Celtics offense had a scorching 120.5 offensive rating. With him off the court, the offense collapsed to a 99.8 offensive rating. Joe’s decision to only play Pritchard 26 minutes in Game 5 hurt the Celtics, especially coming off a Game 4 in which Pritchard had flames shooting out of all of his orifices.
And I won’t even mention the choice to start a lineup in Game 7 that had played zero minutes together.
Three of the last four seasons ended with Celtics losses, and the Celtics were heavy favorites going into all of these series. Joe Mazzulla did not cover himself in glory in any of those losses.
Moving on to the first player on the power rankings: Jaylen Brown. Brown had an incredible season, and will deservedly find his way onto either First or Second Team All-NBA. Jaylen again showed the world that putting a ceiling on him is typically a mistake.
However, part of what made Jaylen’s season special was the leap he took as a passer and decision-maker. Historically, Jaylen has tended to get tunnel vision in big spots. But in the regular season, Brown was consistently making the right play, getting teammates involved and leading a Celtics offense that ended the season ranked second in the entire league. Brown reverted to his old ways in these playoffs. Jaylen recorded more turnovers (25) than he did assists (23).
I don’t think this came from selfishness. I believe Brown tends to press and force the issue; he wants to put the team on his back and will them to victory. Despite his play coming from a well-intentioned place, it brought out his worst habits. Leading to a Celtics offense that stalled out when he was on the court. With Jaylen on the court in the first round, the Celtics had a negative 1.3 net rating; with him off the court, the Celtics had a 23.2 net rating. With Jaylen on the court, the Celtics had a 108.7 offensive rating; with him off the court, the Celtics had a 131.3 offensive rating. An astronomical swing — a swing that can’t happen with a team’s second-best player.
Derrick White is up next. Coming into the playoffs, I wasn’t worried about a down shooting year for Derrick. I thought the team could survive his 32.7% three-point shooting clip. Unfortunately, Derrick took his bad shooting to another level, making it untenable for the Celtics. Not only did White shoot 27.3% from the three-point line, but his two-point field goal percentage also plummeted from 48.7% in the regular season to 42.3% in the playoffs. To make matters worse, White lost confidence and stopped being aggressive. Hesitancy in the playoffs will get you killed. In the last 15 games of the regular season, which marked Jayson Tatum’s return, White was taking 10.5 field goals per game. Coming into Game 7, White was only taking 9.2 field goals per game. It’s very hard for a team to win with their third player struggling to this degree.
Neemias Queta unfortunately joins the ranks. Specifically, Neemias Queta’s foul trouble. In Game 7, we saw what Queta was capable of on a big stage. The Portuguese big man was the most impactful Celtic as the team tried to save their season. Pouring in 17 points and 12 rebounds on the way to being a team-high plus nine in his 32 minutes. It was all on display in Game 7: the athleticism, the improved touch, the clutch free-throw making, the ability to clean the glass.
Unfortunately, the Boston Celtics needed more Neemias Queta early in the series. From the first game in the series, Queta found himself in foul trouble, which shouldn’t happen when playing against Andre Drummond and Adem Bona. If I had any hair left, I would have pulled it out when the big man committed another unnecessary foul, reaching in after the 76ers had corralled a defensive rebound. You could live with some of the fouls; it was the avoidable ones that killed the team. With a weak front line, the Celtics needed Queta to play at least 30 minutes per game in this series, and he eliminated that possibility with some horrendous fouls.
There is plenty of blame to go around for the excruciating first-round loss that the Celtics experienced in round one of the playoffs. However, while it hurts, every issue on the list is fixable, but only if the issues are acknowledged. A lot went wrong for the Celtics in this year’s playoffs, but I remain confident that the team will be right back in the mix this time next year.
