2025-26 Celtics, gone too soon; what comes next after unsettling playoff exit?

Boston -- It was a season spent defying external expectations. Grit and growth propelled a roster hungry to prove itself with greater responsibility. Development and depth kept the Celtics among the top teams in the East.

Then, Jayson Tatum returned, just under 10 months after tearing his Achilles tendon. It breathed life into the possibility of a Hollywood ending. How impressive he looked upon being back in uniform fueled that vision.

They finished the regular season with 56 wins, good enough for the second seed in the conference. Then, Boston seized a 3-1 series lead in its first-round rivalry clash with the Philadelphia 76ers. It seemed like the team to bet on representing the East in the Finals; them or the New York Knicks. Either way, it appeared like those two were headed toward a second-round rematch.

Instead, Joel Embiid swung the series.

"We didn't really have an answer for Embiid in the games that he played," said Jaylen Brown as he began to soak in the unfamiliar experience of a first-round exit. "He was a problem for us...I think that made the difference."

The Sixers' star center generated a game-high 34 points in Saturday's winner-take-all matchup on the parquet. He also grabbed 12 rebounds and dished out six assists.

Embiid is 24th in total points this postseason despite only appearing in four contests. The only player to top his total without more opportunities is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. It speaks to the havoc the seven-time All-Star created. He was too bruising down low. He repeatedly put the ball in the basket and Boston's bigs in foul trouble. His 11 free-throw attempts were the most in the matchup. No one else had more than six. He cashed in on nine of those.

On the other side of Game 7's 109-100 outcome was a group that fought valiantly.

After getting held under 100 points in consecutive contests, the Celtics had to make changes. They had to more closely resemble the free-flowing, fast-paced team that often won by outcompeting their opposition.

Then came the devastating news that Jayson Tatum would be out due to left knee stiffness.

"He came in today with knee discomfort, and we decided, [the] medical team [and] myself, for him not to play," said Joe Mazzulla before Game 7 got underway. When asked about the specifics of what was sidelining the star forward, Boston's bench boss conveyed, "The back of the knee, stiffness, and day-to-day."

In response, the Celtics leaned all the way into a regular-season identity that had gone missing. They started the night with a first unit featuring Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Baylor Scheierman, Ron Harper Jr., and Luka Garza. That group had never played together.

Then, the hosts had to dig out of an early hole and a 13-point deficit entering the second quarter. Talent and pragmatism were on the side of the Sixers. However, being grounded is why many outside the building overlooked Boston entering this season. What the hosts had on their side was heart.

Not to say the victors of this series lacked it, that would be a grossly inaccurate statement about a seven-seed that erased a 3-1 deficit against a second-seed for the first time since the opening round expanded to a best-of-seven format in 2003.

Embiid fought to get back after an appendectomy and changed the outcome of this series. Paul George maximized the benefits of a 25-game reprieve. His defense against Brown and screen navigation were exceptional. At the other end of the floor, he averaged 17.4 points. It's a dramatic swing by a player who has had some of his worst moments happen in the playoffs. He entered this postseason still discussed as being on one of the worst contracts in the league. Philadelphia isn't bothered in the slightest by the size of it right now. He just helped the franchise vanquish a rival it hadn't been in the playoffs since 1982, snapping a six-series skid.

However, they also saw the Celtics respond to going down 18, the 76ers' largest lead of the night, by staging an 18-6 run to pull within six. With minimal margin for error, they outscored Philadelphia 9-2 to begin the final frame. When Brown buried a mid-range jumper through contact from George and converted on the ensuing free-throw, the hosts were within one with 7:59 remaining.

Unfortunately, they didn't have enough magic in them to complete this Cinderella story. After Brown produced two more of his team-high 33 points with a pull-up jumper, Boston was back within one, 97-96, with five minutes left. From there, the Celtics missed 10 consecutive shots. There were some shots with a higher degree of difficulty and others that looked like they might swing the outcome. A prime example of the latter is Payton Pritchard's open three from the left corner that drew iron with the hosts down by one and 2:20 on the clock. It was a moment that left the team and the TD Garden faithful looking up at the Basketball Gods.

Neemias Queta knocked down two free throws to keep them within one, but they never made another field-goal attempt until a Pritchard layup with 10 seconds left, and the season was beyond saving.

"At no point during the game that I think we were going to lose it just because of who they are as competitors and what they've done throughout the entire year," said Joe Mazzulla as he reflected on Game 7 and the defiant season his team produced.

What comes next for the Celtics?

The ending was abrupt. Squandering a 3-1 series lead, with two of those losses occurring on your home floor, is a bitter pill to swallow. And for the veterans of this group, especially Tatum and Brown, a first-round exit is unfamiliar. Boston had yet to exit the playoffs this early with its star duo healthy.

However, even with the sour aftertaste serving as an unwanted chaser to what the franchise accomplished in the regular season, there was a sense of gratitude for how this year unfolded.

"Great season," voiced Brown from the post-game podium. "Obviously, it didn't finish the way we would have liked. I give credit to Philadelphia. I watched them get better as the playoffs went on, but just from our guys to come out for a Game 7 and play with that level of intensity, play with that level of trust, that's the style that I just felt like we've been doing all year, and I loved it. It was a pleasure. Each and every one of those guys, I've watched develop, get better, and step up in big moments to help us win games. Tonight, we came up a little bit short. Fourth quarter, we had some great looks that I wish would have went down, but nothing to hang my head over, nothing for our team to hang our head over."

To his point, eight players set career-highs in at least four categories this season. Brad Stevens earned Executive of the Year for his role in building a roster that could flourish with opportunities to prove themselves. It allowed the Celtics to laugh at the notion of this as a gap year and turn their team's offseason makeover into a positive for the future. Joe Mazzulla will likely win the NBA's Coach of the Year honor for the job he and his staff did in helping maximize this group in the regular season.

It was a team that played to the style of its city: a gritty underdog with perseverance. They played faster, a part of the franchise's DNA that delights its fan base. There was the ingenuity of schematic changes on both sides of the ball. That includes beautiful, layered play designs to help atone for the lack of individual creators. And a roster that felt empowered. Even when someone fell out of the rotation, they knew another opportunity was around the corner and that the worst thing they could do was not be ready for it.

From Baylor Scheierman to Jordan Walsh, Luka Garza, Hugo Gonzalez, and on down the line, they often met the moment. A win in the regular-season finale against an Orlando Magic team with a chance to gain homecourt in its opening play-in tournament matchup exemplified the spirit of this season in Boston.

"I thought a lot of people had a lot of growth this year, so that's positive. And, like I said, just because you don't win a championship one year doesn't mean it didn't build for the next championship," expressed Pritchard in the home team's locker room after Game 7. "That's how I look at it."

As the Celtics build towards that, they face massive questions about their best path forward

When it seemed like every button they pushed was the right one during the regular season, it appeared like they could remain under the luxury tax in the upcoming campaign to reset the repeater tax and remain in championship contention. That no longer seems realistic from this vantage point.

Not aggressively pursuing a championship with Jayson Tatum in his prime seems unacceptable. There was a 22-year odyssey between lifting the Larry O'Brien Trophy in 1986 and 2008. It's an elite organization, yet for all the trust they have earned, as much talent as there is within all corners of the building, taking chances to compete for an NBA title for granted, not knowing what the next chapter will look like after the Tatum and Brown era, seems arrogant and ungrateful for what they have. Those feelings don't match the perspective of those within the franchise. They couldn't be further from an accurate description of how they operate.

As the team figures out how to build around Tatum moving forward, it feels like every scenario is on the table.

Tatum and Brown have turned Boston into a perennial title contender. They made trips to the Eastern Conference Finals feel like an annual tradition. There were two trips to the NBA Finals, and there's an 18th championship banner hanging in the TD Garden rafters.

Those two can still be the tip of a championship spear. However, a year after rebuffing inquiries about Brown's availability, it's conceivable that the Celtics are more willing to listen this offseason. It's a stunning reality after he inserted his name into the MVP conversation with another season spent evolving. Yet, his name will likely return to the rumor mill. This time, and this is strictly based on feeling, not intel, it seems like there's more uncertainty about the future of an individual who has done so much for Boston, on and off the court, and whether Saturday was his last game in green.

From Derrick White to whether the franchise feels it needs a new starting center, who will and won't be back is a guessing game one can play with most of the roster.

There are also questions about whether the Celtics' approach, and their reliance on beating teams from beyond the arc, requires tweaking.

"We're always going to play to the strength of where our roster is, I think, is the best way to be able to do that," said Mazzulla when asked about that after Boston shot below 30 percent in three-straight losses where the team failed to put more than 100 points on the board. "And again, take a look at the box score, they shot 39 percent, so I think, going back to duality, it's always funny, when we lose games by shooting 26, the other team shoots 39, and you're like, 'What are you going to do about it?' It's like, 'Well, the other team made 39,' You know what I mean? So, the duality of like, you've got to make them. They shot 40 percent for the game; we shot 26. But we're always gonna play to the style of the strengths of the roster that we have and whatever that looks like."

That should resoundingly answer that question. Yes, there are valid criticisms about the team's playoff rotation and parts of their play, such as pace. The latter slowed in Games 5 and 6, making it that much harder to find an offensive rhythm. However, as far as finding a different style, this approach, pairing a heavy volume of threes with an aggressive pursuit of offensive rebounds, was the best way to maximize this roster on that side of the ball.

If the team's construct changes, Mazzulla will adapt accordingly. And change is on the way. After a significant roster makeover last summer and shaking up the team's core in the offseason before the 2023-24 campaign that ended atop the NBA summit, time will tell how dramatic a remodeling Brad Stevens commissions after a spectacular season ended in an unfamiliar fashion, leaving most questions about the Celtics' future open-ended.

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