Celtics Playoff Preview

Zak Drapeau
1 hour ago
4 min read

by Zak Drapeau

Sportz Nation - 4/16/2026

After last night's play-in game, we now know that the Celtics will start the 2026 NBA Playoffs in a 7 game series against the 76ers, starting Sunday afternoon from TD Garden.

Celtics Roster

The Celtics 56-35 record this season was good enough for the 2nd seed in the East and the team is the clear favorite to make it to the NBA Finals. The team has actually been 15-5 since the return of star forward Jayson Tatum from an Achilles injury in Early March.

For the season, Jaylen Brown has obviously been the top player averaging around 29-7-5 in 71 games this season and is currently 4th in the MVP race. Since returning to action, Jayson Tatum has averaged 22-10-5 in 16 games in a more reserved role of 32 minutes per game in preparation of an expected larger role come the playoffs.

Playoff Outlook

The Eastern Conference Playoffs as a whole should be very exciting and competitive albeit with one particularly green team expected to go all the way. Yes, the Celtics are the favorites to win the Conference with a +155 number to Detroit's 2nd best +400. The Knicks and Cavaliers both have +410 odds as the 3 and 4 seeds respectively. A very interesting team to look out for is the Charlotte Hornets who haven't even made the playoffs yet, competing for the 8-seed in tonight's final Play-In game, but still have the 6th best odds to win the conference.

First Round

For the C's, a first round matchup with the 76ers is nothing to overlook with Tyrese Maxey plying great basketball and Paul George and VJ Edgecombe backing him up.

For the entire series breakdown, come back to fansonlysportz.com/news for an in-depth series breakdown by Zak Drapeau, Saturday at noon.

Second Round

If they get past Philly, they will face the winner of the Knicks-Hawks series, meaning they'll likely write another chapter in the Celtics-Knicks storied history. The Knicks won the regular season series by a 3-1 mark and in the last Playoff series between the two, New York was victorious in 6 games in the series that saw Jayson Tatum tear his achilles in Game 4.

In my opinion, this is the ONLY SERIES that the Celtics could lose in the 2026 Eastern Conference playoffs. New York's dynamic duo of Brunson and Towns will challenge Boston's entire court, especially their Front Court's ability to battle KAT.

While I believe the Celtics unbelievable depth at Guard and Forward will be far too much for the Knicks to check for 7 games, I do think this series will go 7. In the end, the team and Tatum in particular should rise to the occasion and have a huge series that will vanquish their demons from a year ago and beat the Knicks.

Eastern Conference Finals

While this series could technically see any of Detroit, Cleveland, Toronto, Orlando or Charlotte, it will most likely be either Detroit or Cleveland. This is purely speculation now as the Playoffs are a long and tumultuous tournament where anything can happen, but I have Cleveland making it on the other side with Cade's health still not 100% for the Pistons.

So I have the Celtics and Cavaliers in the ECF that will have a home field advantage for the Celtics. The Celtics took all 3 games of the regular season between the two teams with an average margin of 11 points.

This series will absolutely be competitive but after a win against New York, I just think the Celtics will be on such a high that they will play some of the best basketball we've seen all season. For the Cavs, they matchup horribly with Boston as Mitchell and Harden should be at the very least slowed down by Jaylen Brown and Derrick White. Evan Mobley could be a problem for the C's but in the end just isn't talented enough offensively to lead his team past Boston. I could easily see this series going 5 games.

NBA Finals

It has been said that the Western Conference is the stronger of the two sides and I'd have to agree, with the Thunder and Spurs having the two best records in the league as well as MVP front runners. Luckily for the Celtics, as long as they make it to the Finals, they'll only have to play one of those giants.

As a whole, the Thunder's team is not only more talented but much more experienced as the reigning NBA Champions. An expected WCF Finals between these two may be the best series of the entire Playoffs, and one that I expect Wemby to take over but come up just short to the better team in OKC.

So a matchup between OKC and Boston in the Finals. This is the betting favorite for the NBA Finals as well as most people's prediction for the series and one that could be generational and easily go to another Finals game 7.

For the fact this potential-series is much too speculative I won't go too far into my predictions of the series, (you'll have to tune back in to see my official predictions when we get there.)

For now, we'll just have to wait and see. For all the Celtics' fans out there, these Playoffs have A LOT to be excited about and it all starts Sunday.