For the 23rd time in NBA history, it\u2019ll be Boston vs. Philadelphia in the playoffs. It\u2019s familiar. It\u2019s layered. And even when one team is clearly better, the games don\u2019t always cooperate with that reality.<\/p>\n
Which brings us to the question that might actually decide this series: what happens if these games are still tight late?<\/p>\n
The Sixers need to keep things close<\/p>\n
The Philadelphia 76ers had the #1 clutch-time defense in the NBA this season. Not top five. The best. They held teams to a 98.6 defensive rating in 174 total minutes of clutch situations. In the NBA, a clutch situation is officially defined as any time during the final five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime, where the score differential between the two teams is five points or less.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve already shown what that clutch-time defense looks like against Boston.<\/p>\n Both of their wins over the Celtics this season came down to the final possessions. If you rule out the Celtics 114-98 blowout win versus Philly on March 1st, the other three games were decided by a total of four points. Four! Two of those resulted in losses for Boston, falling in the regular-season opener 117-116, and losing again in Philadelphia on November 11, 102-100. Those two losses were the exact kind of games where everything slows down and every decision gets magnified.<\/p>\n That\u2019s where this series can drift into something it probably shouldn\u2019t be.<\/p>\n The Celtics don\u2019t need to be perfect.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the thing with this Celtics team. When they look like themselves, the game usually ends before it ever becomes a \u201cclutch\u201d game.<\/p>\n Ball moves. Shots fall. Defense travels. You look up midway through the fourth and it\u2019s a 15-point game that never really felt in doubt.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the version of Boston that wins this series in five and we all get to start thinking about Round 2.<\/p>\n But for Boston, every now and then, the game tilts a little. And if it tilts long enough in this series, it could be closer than we\u2019re hoping for.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve seen the version of Boston that gets a little too comfortable with isolation play, whether it\u2019s Brown or Tatum holding on to the ball until the shot clock hits nine before they decide to start the action. This shows up most in games where Boston builds a big early lead. Complacency and standing still are the demons of this team. When they get away from playing their game, the threes stop falling. The offense gets a little sticky. Possessions start ending in tougher shots than they probably should. Nothing catastrophic \u2014 just enough to keep the other team hanging around.<\/p>\n BOSTON, MA – MARCH 1: Jaylen Brown #7 of the Boston Celtics drives to the basket during the game against the Philadelphia 76ers on March 1, 2026 at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and\/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Brian Babineau\/NBAE via Getty Images) NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n You look at the scoreboard, now it\u2019s eight. Then six. Then four.<\/p>\n And suddenly you\u2019re playing the Sixers\u2019 game.<\/p>\n For a team that was pretty average for most of the season, the math changes for Philly when games get tight late. And for whoever they\u2019re playing, the focus shifts from who generated better shots over 40 minutes to who executes over the next eight.<\/p>\n A big part of this series will be determined by whether the Celtics can still get clean looks when everything tightens.<\/p>\n For the Sixers, it\u2019ll be determined by whether they can turn the game into a half-court grind, where their guards can pressure the ball, switch across actions, and force Boston into late-clock decisions. And if guys like Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe can create just enough offense while the defense does its elite thing, look out.<\/p>\n Lastly, if Joel Embiid somehow appears at any point in this series \u2014 even in a limited role \u2014 that dynamic gets even more pronounced. Slower pace, more physicality, more chances to drag things into the mud.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not where Boston wants to live.<\/p>\n The stat just tells the story<\/p>\n Yes, the clutch defensive rating matters. It tells you Philly is elite in those moments. But the real takeaway is simpler than that.<\/p>\n The Sixers need these games to stay close. The Celtics don\u2019t.<\/p>\n If Boston does what it\u2019s done all season \u2014 moves the ball, avoids self-inflicted mistakes, and builds real separation \u2014 this matchup probably ends without much drama. If they don\u2019t, and they keep letting Philly hang around late, then all of a sudden you\u2019re playing a different kind of series.<\/p>\n The kind where one bounce, one possession, one weird stretch decides things.<\/p>\n The kind of game you remember from growing up.<\/p>\n The one against that kid.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s not get it twisted, the Celtics are the better team in this series. But being the better team doesn\u2019t always equate to advancing to the next round. Don\u2019t tell me you\u2019ve already forgotten the \u201806-\u201907 We Believe Warriors<\/a>, or the \u201810-\u201911 Mavericks<\/a> taking down the first version of the Heatles? I can still hear The Jet<\/a> flying overhead.<\/p>\n Again, playoff series don\u2019t always reward the better team in a straight line. They reward the team that controls what the game (and the series) becomes.<\/p>\n Right now, there are two versions of this series sitting right in front of us. One where Boston plays its game and moves on, and one where things get just uncomfortable enough, just often enough, that Philly gets exactly what it wants.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the margin. And it might come down to whether the Celtics can stay far enough away from the exact kind of game the Sixers have already proven they\u2019re built to win.<\/p>\n If you never got the best of that rival twerp of yours growing up, you should feel pretty good about this matchup. The Sixers aren\u2019t bringing their usual firepower to the table, and if Boston handles its business, they should be the ones handing out the wet willies all series long.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Close your eyes and think about the kid you always matched up against growing up. Little League, Pee…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":711895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3766],"tags":[7,45,75,3798,46,1206,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-711894","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-celtics","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-celtics","11":"tag-bostonceltics","12":"tag-celtics","13":"tag-celtics-analysis","14":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116415554082178235","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=711894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/711895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2026-04-16-at-12.07.43PM.png\"\/)
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