at 
Philadelphia 76ers (0-0)  at  Boston Celtics (0-0)
Wednesday, October 22, 2025
7:30 PM ET
Regular Season Game #1, Home Game #1
TV:  NBCSB, NBCSP, NBA-LP
Radio: 98.5 Sports Hub,  97.5 Fanatic, Sirius XM
TD Garden


Probable Starting Matchups
Point Guard
vs
Payton Pritchard vs Tyrese Maxey

Shooting Guard
vs
Derrick White vs VJ Edgecombe

Small Forward
vs
Jaylen Brown vs Kelly Oubre, Jr

Poward Forward
vs
Chris Boucher vs Adem Bona

Center
vs
Neemias Queta vs Joel Embiid 

Celtics Reserves
Anfernee Simons
Josh Minott
Xavier Tillman
Jordan Walsh
Hugo Gonzalez
Luka Garza
Baylon Scheierman
Sam Hauser 

2-Way Players
Ron Harper, Jr
Max Shulga
Amari Williams

Injuries/Out
Jayson Tatum (Achilles) out
Jaylen Brown (hamstring)  probable

Head Coach
Joe Mazzulla 

76ers Reserves
Johni Broome
Andre Drummond
Justin Edwards
Eric Gordon
Quentin Grimes
Kyle Lowry
Igor Milicic, Jr

2-Way Players
Dominick Barlow
Hunter Sallis
Jabari Walker

Injuries/Out
Paul George (knee) out
Trendon Watford (hamstring) out
Jared McCain (thumb) out

Head Coach
Nick Nurse

Game Notes
The Celtics begin the season by hosting one of their oldest rivals, the Philadelphia 76ers.  This is the first of 4 games between these two teams this season.  The Celtics will travel to Philadelphia for games on October 31 and November 11. The October 31 game will be the Celtics first game in the NBA Cup In-Season Tournament.   The 76ers will return to Boston for a game on March 1. 

The Celtics were 3-1 in the preseason while the 76ers were 1-3.  The Celtics beat the 76ers 3-1 last season and they were also 3-1 against the 76ers in the 2023-24 season.  The 76ers tanked hard the last part of last season and finished 24-58 while the Celtics finished with a 61-21 record.  The Celtics are 275-197 overall all time and they are 159-57 all time at home against the  76ers. 

The 76ers haven't changed much since last season.  They added Trendon Watford as a free agent.  They also added Igor Milicic, Jr, who went undrafted in this year's draft.  They added VJ Edgecombe with the 3rd pick in the draft and Johni Broome with the 35th pick in the draft.   They lost Guerschon Yabusele, Jared Butler, and Ricky Council IV. The 76ers have a veteran core and an exciting lottery pick and if they can stay healthy, they could be a good team this season.

The Celtics are split about evenly between returning and new players.  They have 9 returning players and 8 new players on the team this season.  Gone are Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, Jrue Holiday and Luke Kornet. New players include Anfernee Simons, Josh Minott, Chris Boucher, Hugo Gonzalez, Luka Garza, Max Shulga, Amari Williams, and Ron Harper, Jr.  The Celtics have a core of good players returning along with some young players who are excited to show what they can do.  They may surprise a lot of people who are counting them out this season.

After this game, the Celtics go on the road for 3 games.  They will play at New York and then at Detroit and New Orleans for their first back to back set this season.  They will then return home to face Cleveland before playing at Philadelphia for their first NBA Cup game.   The 76ers will return home after this game to face Charlotte and then will host Orlando and travel to Washington for back to back games.  Then they host Boston on Halloween before a 3 game road trip through Brooklyn, Chicago, and Cleveland. 

The Celtics will begin the season without their All Star forward, Jayson Tatum, who is rehabbing from a torn Achilles.  He is expected back anywhere from the All Star break until next season.  Jaylen Brown is listed as questionable but since he has gone through a couple of full practices and said that he feels great,  I'm expecting him to play.

Joel Embiid returned, after being out since February, to play the final preseason game and is expected to be available for this game.  Paul George remains out after left arthroscopic knee surgery in the offseason.  He is reportedly close to a return.  Trendon Watford will have to wait to make his 76ers premiere as he is out with a strained hamstring.  Jared McCain is also out with a thumb injury. 

I have listed Philadelphia's starters from their final preseason game against the Timberwolves.  They won that game 126-110 and so I'm thinking they will stick with that lineup for this game.  When he returns, Paul George will replace Bona at power forward.   I've listed the Celtics starting lineup from their final preseason game as well.  I'm guessing that Joe will stick with that lineup but he could change things around since there are a lot of questions about the Celtics front court rotation.

Key Matchups
vs
Payton Pritchard vs Tyrese Maxey
Maxey averaged 18.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1 steal per game in 4 preseason games.  He shot 49.1% from the field and 36% from beyond the arc.  He is quick and shoots the ball well and so Pritchard will have his hands full defending him.  Hopefully Pritchard can go from 6th Man of the Year to starter and excel at it. 

vs
Derrick White vs VJ Edgecombe
Edgecombe was the 3rd overall pick in the 2025 draft and played very well in the preseason.  Over 3 games, he averaged 16.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 2 steals per game, while shooting 42.5% from the field and 25% from beyond the arc.  I expect that the 76ers will once again start him in this game.  Hopefully. Derrick White can use his veteran wiles on the rookie to win this matchup.

Honorable Mention
Neemias Queta vs Joel Embiid
In the 76ers preseason finale, Embiid played his first game since February.  He finished with 14 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists and 3 steals in 19 minutes of play.  He shot 50% from both the field and on 3's.  There didn't appear to be much rust on his game.  The Celtics no longer have Al Horford to work his defensive magic on Embiid so the Celtics will need to find another way to slow Embiid down this season. 

Keys to the Game
Defense -  Whether it is the first game of the season or the last, defense will always be the key to winning.  The Celtics were second in the preseason with a defensive rating of 100.2.  The 76ers were 17th with a defensive rating of 109.2.  The Celtics need to keep that defensive mindset and work hard on that end of the court if they want to win this season.  They don't have as much firepower as they did last season and so they will need to get stops in order to beat teams. 

Rebound -  As with defense,  rebounding will always be a key to winning.  Teams need the ball to score and rebounding is a good way to get it.   The Celtics led all teams in the preseason, averaging 52.8 rebounds per game.  The 76ers were 24th in the preseason with 42.5 rebounds per game.  The Celtics need to continue to crash the boards as a team and make an effort to grab every rebound.

Take Care of the Ball - The Celtics need to take care of the basketball and limit turnovers.  They were 31st in the preseason, averaging 21.3 turnovers per game.  Perhaps that can be explained by the number of new players getting to know each other, but they won't win many games in the regular season if they turn the ball over 21 times.  They have to make careful passes and also be aware while dribbling and not drive into a crowd or allow a defender to steal the ball. 

Run, Run, Run -  Almost every season a coach will say that his team is going to run and play faster but then they don't.  Joe Mazzulla has vowed to play faster this season and he seems to have the players to do it.  The Celtics were 7th in pace in the preseason and the team did play much faster than they have in the past.  They need to continue to run and to play fast on every possession this season.

X-Factors
First Game -  Both teams are playing in their first game of the season.  Preseason doesn't count much because the starting lineups for both teams got limit minutes on the court together.  The Celtics have been off a full week while the 76ers have been off 5 days since their last game so there could be some rust along with some jitters that come from playing as a team for real for the first time. 

Coaching - Joe Mazzulla is starting his 4th season as Celtics' head coach.  He won a title with a very talented team that was packed with shooting stars.  Now he is going to have to win in a different way since his personnel has changed and so he must prove that he can.   Nick Nurse is starting his 8th season as a head coach overall and his 3rd as the 76ers head coach.  He won a title with the Raptors in 2019.  The 76ers are finally close to healthy and so Nurse has a lot to prove with this team as well.