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BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS- OCTOBER 13: Payton Pritchard #11 of the Boston Celtics looks on against the Toronto Raptors in the first half during a preseason game at TD Garden on October 13, 2024 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. (Photo by China Wong/Getty Images)

The Boston Celtics arrived at TD Garden on Saturday night with one last chance to protect a season that had already stretched belief. They had won 56 games and survived most of the year without Jayson Tatum. They had watched him return from a ruptured Achilles tendon faster than almost anyone could have expected.

A 3-1 series lead. Home court. One win standing between them and the Eastern Conference semifinals. Then, when Tatum’s name appeared on the injury report shortly before the building filled up, the night took on a completely different shape.

Tatum was ruled out with left knee stiffness. And by the end of the night, the season was over.

Tatum Ruled Out Before Tip-Off

Joe Mazzulla had to tear up the plan before the game even started.

With Tatum unavailable, Boston opened Game 7 with a reshuffled starting lineup. Jaylen Brown and Derrick White anchored the group. Around them, Mazzulla turned to Ron Harper Jr., Baylor Scheierman, and Luka Garza to fill out the five, with Neemias Queta and Sam Hauser sliding to the bench.

It was not the lineup Boston expected to use in the biggest game of the season. It also did not have much time to settle.

Philadelphia opened on a 9-0 run, immediately forcing the Celtics to chase the game.

GettyBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – MAY 02: Jayson Tatum #0 of the Boston Celtics looks on from the bench during the first half of a game against the Philadelphia 76ers in Game Seven of the First Round of the NBA Eastern Conference Playoffs at TD Garden on May 02, 2026 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Celtics Show Fight Without Him

The Celtics did not fold. They fought their way back into the game, and with just under four minutes left, Boston cut the deficit to one.

The game was still there.

Then the offense disappeared. Boston went cold at the worst possible moment, going scoreless from the field across the final stretch of the game. Philadelphia held on for a 109-100 win. The win sent the 76ers into the second round, where the New York Knicks await. It also made Boston the first team in franchise history to surrender a 3-1 series lead.

Jaylen Brown led the way for Boston with 33 points on a night that asked almost everything from him. Derrick White finally turned up, finishing with 26 points and provided the shooting presence Boston desperately needed. Queta gave Boston one of his best games of the year, scoring 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting after struggling through foul trouble for much of the matchup.

Ultimately, Joel Embiid was too much. He finished with 34 points and 12 rebounds, controlling the game in the areas Boston could not solve. Tyrese Maxey finished with 30 points, 7 assists, and 11 rebounds, giving Philadelphia the guard production it needed to survive Boston’s late push.

GettyBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – MAY 02: Jaylen Brown #7 of the Boston Celtics is defended by Vj Edgecombe #77 of the Philadelphia 76ers during the third quarter in Game Seven of the First Round of the NBA Eastern Conference Playoffs at TD Garden on May 02, 2026 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Pritchard Sends a Powerful Message

Payton Pritchard sat at the postgame podium with the look of a player still processing what had just happened. The question put to him by Noa Dalzell was about perspective. How does a team balance a 56-win season with an ending this painful?

His answer did not erase the disappointment. It gave the Celtics a way to understand it.

“Just because you don’t win a championship one year doesn’t mean it didn’t build for the next championship,” Pritchard said. “So, when we won Banner 18, four years before that, we lost four straight — lost to Miami, lost in the finals. So those might have been disappointing years, but maybe those led to the championship. So, that’s how I look at it.”

Pritchard has been in Boston long enough to know how this works. The years that feel wasted in the moment often become part of the story later. The playoff exits. The Finals loss. The Miami scars. The seasons that felt like evidence Boston could not get over the hump.

Then Banner 18 arrived, and all of those failures looked different.

Pritchard was not trying to dress up a blown 3-1 lead. He was pointing to something the Celtics have already lived. Pain does not guarantee growth. But for this core, it has often preceded it.

GettyPayton Pritchard #11 of the Boston Celtics. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Final Word for the Celtics

Brown put the emotion of the night into simple terms after the game.

“I feel like left it all out there tonight,” Brown said. “Just came up short.”

That is not enough to make the ending feel better. The Celtics had a 3-1 lead. They had Game 7 at home. They had open looks to take the lead in the final minutes.

It was a heartbreaking loss and a brutal end to the season. But it was also season that had real beauty in it. Tatum’s emotional return. A 56-win regular season. Brown’s leadership. White’s resilience. Young players becoming part of the story.

The seasons that hurt are often the ones that matter most when it finally comes together. It was painful, but Banner 18 was also built on disappointment. This season now becomes another layer in whatever comes next.