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Boston Celtics (2-1) at Philadelphia 76ers (1-2)
Sunday, April 26, 2026
7:00 PM ET
Round 1 Game #4 Road Game #2
TV: Peacock/NBC
Radio: 98.5 The Sports Hub, 97.5 The Fanatic, Sirius XM
Xfinity Mobile Arena 
Probable Starting Matchups Point Guard 
vs
Derrick White vs Tyrese Maxey
Shooting Guard 
vs
Jaylen Brown vs VJ Edgecombe
Small Forward 
vs
Sam Hauser vs Kelly Oubre, Jr
Poward Forward 
vs
Jayson Tatum vs Paul George
Center
vs
Neemias Queta vs Adem Bona
Celtics ReservesPayton Pritchard
Hugo Gonzalez
Luka Garza
Amare Williams
Baylor Scheierman
Max Shulga
Nikola Vucevic
Ron Harper, Jr
Delano Banton
John Tonje
2-Way PlayersNone
Injuries/OutNone
Head CoachJoe Mazzulla
76ers Reserves Andre Drummond
Quentin Grimes
Kyle Lowry
Justin Edwards
Trendon Watford
Dalen Terry
Dominick Barlow
Jabari Walker
2-Way PlayersMarJon Beauchamp
Tyrese Martin
Injuries/OutJoel Embiid (Appendix) doubtful
Kelly Oubre (groin) questionable
Head CoachNick Nurse
Game Notes After splitting the games in Boston, the Celtics wrestled back home court advantage by winning Game 3 108-100 in Philadelphia.. The Celtics dominated Game 1 with a 123-91 win over the 76ers. The 76ers topped the Celtics 111-97 in Game 2 to tie the game at 1 game each. The Celtics have a 68-51 record against the 76ers overall in the playoffs. In the regular season, the Celtics are 272-199 overall, all time against the 76ers. They are 93-129 all time in Philly.
The 76ers had the #1 clutch defense in the NBA in the regular season They had a 98.6 defensive rating during the last 5 minutes of games that were within 5 points. They were 23-18 in games that included clutch minutes. The Celtics were 16-17 in games that included clutch minutes and that includes going 1-2 against Philadelphia this season. With 5 minutes left in Game 3, the Celtics led 92-88. With 2 minutes left, the Celtics led 97-96. The Celtics out-scored the 76ers 11-4 the rest of the way to get the win with Pritchard, Tatum, White and Scheierman all coming up big for the Celtics over the final 2 minutes.
Teams that win Game 3 of a series that is tied 1-1 goes on to win the series 74% of the time. When a series is tied 2-2, the team with the higher seed, and thus home court advantage, will win the series 73.1% of the time, which is a good percentage. However, if a team wins Game 4 to go up 3 games to 1, the odds of them winning the series jumps to 95.4%. The Celtics can't become complacent because they got home court back with their Game 3 win.
One of the advantages that the Celtics have is their depth. In Game 1, the Celtics got 37 points from their bench while the 76ers got 27 points from theirs. Of course, there were about 6 minutes of garbage time in that game. In Game 2, the 76ers got 21 points from their bench while the Celtics got 20 from theirs. In Game 3, the Celtics' bench put up 35 points while the 76ers got just 14 points from theirs. It would seem that as the reserves go, so goes the game.
If the Celtics had one flaw this season, it was becoming complacent and allowing lesser teams to play harder than them. They can't afford to do that in the playoffs. They got a very dominant win in Game 1 but they slacked off and allowed the 76ers to play harder in Game 2 and they lost. The Celtics have to play even harder in this game and they will need to be ready for the 76ers' adjustments. They can't get complacent and have to come out and fight even harder in this game than they have so far in the series.
The Celtics come into this game with a clean injury report. once again. Derrick White injured his neck in the opening minutes of Game 3 but stayed in the game and played almost 34 minutes. He is not listed on the injury report so should be good to go for Game 4. Jaylen Brown turned his ankle in the fourth quarter of Game 3 but, like White, stayed in the game and is not on the injury report for Game 4.
For the 76ers, Joel Embiid is once on their injury report. Embiid underwent an appendectomy on April 9. Recovery for an appendectomy is anywhere from 20 days to 5 weeks. After missing the first 3 games, he remains listed as doubtful for this game. Kelly Oubre joins Embiid on the injury report as questionable due to right adductor soreness. I'm guessing that Adem Bona will once again start for Embiid and if Oubre is out, Dominick Barlow may get the start in his place.
Key Matchups vs
Derrick White vs Tyrese Maxey
In Game1, the Celtics were able to hold him to 21 points on 20 shots along with 1 rebound and 8 assists while shooting 40% from the field and 25% from beyond the arc. He pretty much had his way in Game 2 with 29 points, 4 rebounds, 9 assists, and 2 steals while shooting 39.3% from the field and 41.7% from beyond the arc. In Game 3, he scored 31 points but took 31 shots to get them. He finished with 31 points, 6 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks while shooting 38.7% from the field and 38.5% from beyond the arc. The Celtics need to defend him well and not allow him to have an efficient game
vs
Jaylen Brown vs VJ Edgecombe
In Game 1, he finished with 13 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals while shooting 37.5% from the field and going 0-5 from beyond the arc. In Game 2, he finished with 30 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals while shooting 60% from the field and 60% from beyond the arc. The Celtics defended him better in Game 3 where he finished with 10 points, l0 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 block and 1 steal while shooting 24.9% from the field and shooting 0-7 from three. The Celtics need keep him from having a big game in this one as well.
Honorable Mention Jayson Tatum vs Paul George
Neither of these players were able to play in any of the 4 games between Boston and Philly this season. In Game 1, George finished with 17 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist while shooting 50% from the field and 50% from beyond the arc, but he only took 8 shots. In game 2, he finished with 19 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 1 block while shooting 53.8% from the field and 40.3% from beyond the arc. In Game 3, he finished with 18 points, no rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals while shooting 50% from the field and 57.1% from beyond the arc. T
Keys to the Game Defense - As always, defense is absolutely the key to winning this, and every, game. Defense becomes even more important in the playoffs. It is very true that defense wins championships. In Game 1, the Celtics held the 76ers to 38.9% from the field and 17.4% from beyond the arc. In game 2, the Celtics defense faltered as the 76ers shot 47.8% from the field and 48.7% from beyond the arc. In Game 3, the 76ers shot 43.7% from the field and 34.3% from beyond the arc. The Celtics need to make defense their priority and they need to play physical, lock down defense from the opening tip until the final buzzer.
Rebound - Rebounding is also one of the biggest keys to winning every game. As Pat Riley once said, "No rebounds, no rings. In the regular season, the Celtics were 43-12 in games that they tied or out-rebounded opponents and just 11-13 in games in which they were out-rebounded. In Game 1, the Celtics out-rebounded the 76ers 43-40. In Game 2, they out-rebounded the 76ers 50-42, but they were unable to capitalize on them since they shot so poorly. In Game 3, the Celtics once again out-rebounded the 76ers 45-37. They have to continue to fight harder to grab rebounds than the 76ers if they want to win this game. Every Celtic has got to crash the boards and fight for every rebound.
Move the Ball - The Celtics need to move the ball and trust their teammates. They are at their best when they keep the ball moving and find the open man. When they lapse into hero ball and dribble too much, they tend to struggle, as they did in Game 2. They are 37-2 when they have 25 or more assists and 20-0 when they have 29 or more assists. In Game 1, the Celtics kept the ball moving and they had 31 assists. In Game 2, the ball tended to stick more and they finished with 24 assists. In Game 3, they finished with 21 assists. The Celtics have to keep the ball moving to set up the best shots.
Stay Focused - In Game 1, the Celtics turned the ball over just 8 times. But, since then, they have lost some focus and they have gotten sloppy with the ball. In Game 2, they turned the ball over 13 times for 15 points for the 76ers. In Game 3, it got even worse as they turned the ball over 17 times for 21 points. The Celtics were the best team at taking care of the ball in the regular season. They have to get that focus back and avoid careless passes and not drive into a crowd of defenders. They also have to stay focused on taking good shots and making them.
X-Factors On the Road - The Celtics will be on the road for the second straight game and they will be facing a very hostile crowd. Philly fans hate the Celtics because they have pretty much owned them in recent years. They hate Jayson Tatum because the Celtics took him with Philly's pick after the 76ers traded up to take Markelle Fultz. There will likely be a lot of boos and the Celtics need to play through them. They have to shake off the distractions of playing on the road game and stay focused on playing good basketball.
Coaching - Joe Mazzulla is in his 4th season as Celtics' head coach. He won a title in 2024 with a very talented team that was packed with shooting stars. Now he has to win in a different way since his personnel has changed and he did a great job in the regular season. Nick Nurse is in 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. In the playoffs, coaching becomes more important as it becomes a game of adjustments as they play the same team game after game. The coaching chess game will continue in Game 4.
Officiating - Officiating is always an x-factor. Every crew calls the game differently. Some call it tight and call every bit of contact while others allow more physical play. Some favor the home team while others call both sides evenly. The Celtics have to adjust to the way the refs are calling the game and not allow the no calls and bad calls to affect their focus on playing the game.
Topic: Celtics (2-1) at 76ers (1-2) Round 1 Game 4 4/26/26 (Read 580 times)