Could the Sixers upset the Celtics in the first round of the playoffs? It feels highly unlikely, but it would be revenge over four decades in the making.
This spring will be the NBA-record 23rd time the two franchises have met in the postseason. It’s a rivalry that favors Boston historically, and, really, in 2026 as well. Still, the Sixers have had some high points sprinkled through the years, too.
For my fellow basketball nerds, I’m going to take you a little trip through the past with a look at all of
these matchups, dating back to 1953…
1953 Eastern Division Semifinals: Celtics win series 2-0
This is when the Sixers were still the Syracuse Nationals. I’ll be honest. As a prideful Philadelphian, I don’t care much about that aspect of the franchise’s history. I think it’s outrageous that the team counts Syracuse’s 1955 championship as one of their own. Ultimately, I don’t write the NBA’s history books though, so I’ll be touching upon these.
In the best-of-three series, Boston’s Bob Cousy was fully in control, dropping 20 points in Game 1 and then a whopping 50 points in Game 2, which went to four overtimes, to advance. Cousy played 66 minutes in that one, going 30-of-32 from the free throw line. The Celtics would lose, however, to the Knicks in the Eastern Division Finals.
1954 Eastern Division Finals: Nationals win 2-0
This was very much an outlier year in the league’s history. They had a round-robin format to begin the playoffs for the only time ever. When Syracuse faced Boston in those games, the Nationals won them both with Hall of Famer Dolph Schayes averaging 24.5 points, 14.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists.
They then faced off again in the Eastern Division Finals with the Nationals prevailing in a two-games sweep. Schayes carried the Nationals with a 27-21-5 effort in a Game 1 home victory before closing things out in Boston in Game 2 two days later.
The Nationals would then advance to the NBA Finals before falling to the Minneapolis Lakers in seven games.
1955 Eastern Division Finals: Nationals win 3-1
In a best-of-five format, the Nationals had six scorers average double-figures in the series win: Schayes, Red Kerr, Earl Lloyd, Paul Seymour, George King and Red Rocha.
Cruising to the NBA Finals, the Nationals would win the franchise’s first championship, beating the Fort Wayne Pistons in seven games. Syracuse went from being up 2-0 in the Finals to down 3-2 before righting the ship at home in Game 6 and Game 7 wins.
1956 Eastern Division Semifinals: Nationals win 2-1
After dropping Game 1 in Boston, Syracuse rebounded and took the next two contests. It would be the final time the franchise beats Boston in the playoffs while still playing in Syracuse. The Nationals would go on to lose to the Philadelphia Warriors in six games in the next round.
1957 Eastern Division Finals: Celtics win 3-0
With first-year center Bill Russell now suiting up for Boston, the Celtics would go on a decade of dominance over this franchise. The rookie averaged 15.3 points and 28.0 rebounds per game in the sweep on the way to Boston’s first championship.
1959 Eastern Division Finals: Celtics win 4-3
In a seven-game slugfest, the teams alternated victories before Boston won Game 7 130-125, putting them on a path to another championship. Given Russell’s presence, Boston out-rebounded Syracuse 525-431 in the series.
1961 Eastern Division Finals: Celtics win 4-1
The final specific Nationals-Celtics playoff matchup, Boston took care of things once more. Russell averaged an outrageous 20.6 points, 31.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists in the series. The Celtics would go on to win their third-straight title.
1965 Eastern Division Finals: Celtics win 4-3
The first Sixers-Celtics postseason series, this would put into place a five-year run where the teams would meet in the playoffs annually. The Celtics would have a one-point win in a decisive Game 7, which featured the legendary, “Havlicek stole the ball!” radio broadcast call. Boston’s John Havlicek’s steal off a Sixers inbound pass in the final seconds of the game preserved the Celtics’ lead and sent them to the Finals, where they’d win their seventh-straight title.
1966 Eastern Division Finals: Celtics win 4-1
Far less climactic than their matchup the previous year, Boston just controlled things so much that a 46-point, 34-rebound performance from Wilt Chamberlain in Game 5 didn’t matter. The Celtics would win the NBA title for the eighth year in a row, but the tide would turn the next spring…
1967 Eastern Division Finals: Sixers win 4-1
Revenge! Chamberlain averaged a triple-double with 21.6 points, 32.0 rebounds and 10.0 assists per game. Fellow Hall of Famers Hall Greer (29.2 PPG) and Chet Walker (20.6 PPG) also averaged more than 20 points per night. A closeout 24-point home win would send the Sixers to the Finals. They’d beat the Warriors, now out in San Francisco, to capture the franchise’s first Philadelphia-based championship.
1968 Eastern Division Finals: Celtics win 4-3
Well, the revenge was short lived! The Sixers became the first team to blow a 3-1 series lead in the NBA postseason in this one, falling in Game 7 at the Spectrum in South Philly. Chamberlain did not attempt a shot from the field in the entire second half. It would be his final game as a Sixer before being traded to the Lakers that summer.
Boston, naturally, would go on to win the title after moving past the Sixers.
1969 Eastern Division Semifinals: Celtics win 4-1
With Chamberlain no longer a threat, Boston made quick work of the Sixers. In what was Russell’s final playoff run in his final season as a player (though he served as player-coach for the time being), the Celtics would eventually win yet another championship.
1977 Eastern Conference Semifinals: Sixers win 4-3
In the first year following the NBA-ABA merger, both teams looked much different than the last time they met in the postseason. Julius Erving, now a Sixer, and Doug Collins, a fourth-year All-Star guard, would both average 23.7 points per game in the series victory. In Game 7, World B. Free would score a game-high 27 points off the bench to give the Sixers a six-point win.
The Sixers would reach the NBA Finals, taking a 2-0 series lead over Portland before embarrassingly losing the next four games by a combined 62 points.
1980 Eastern Conference Finals: Sixers win 4-1
Despite a valiant effort from a rookie Larry Bird, the Sixers once more took down Boston in this era on their way to the NBA Finals. Erving, who finished second in MVP voting that regular season, stuffed the stat sheet this series. Erving averaged 25.0 points, 8.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 2.6 steals and 1.4 blocks per game.
The NBA Finals would see the Sixers face Magic Johnson, yet another superstar rookie, and the Lakers, who beat the Sixers in six games.
1981 Eastern Conference Finals: Celtics win 4-3
An iconic matchup in NBA lore, the Sixers, just as they did in 1968, would blow a 3-1 series lead to Boston. Those losses in Games 5, 6 and 7 came by a combined five points. Brutality.
The Celtics would win the NBA Finals over Houston in six games after their comeback against the Sixers.
1982 Eastern Conference Finals: Sixers win 4-3
The legend of Andrew Toney was born here. Toney, in just his second NBA season, earned the “Boston Strangler” nickname with his clutch performances against the Celtics.
The Sixers bounced back from a 40-point Game 1 loss that could’ve been otherwise completely demoralizing. Toney would be the leading scorer in Sixers wins in Game 2 and 4 with 30 points and 39 points, respectively. In a winner-takes-all Game 7 at the Boston Garden with a Finals trip on the line, Toney totaled 34 points while shooting more than 60 percent from the field.
Facing Los Angeles in the NBA Finals for the second consecutive year, the Sixers would fall in six games again. Sweeping the Lakers in the championship round the following season, after Moses Malone arrived in Philly, would make up for it though.
This remains the most recent time that the Sixers have beaten the Celtics in a playoff series.
1985 Eastern Conference Finals: Celtics win 4-1
The Sixers’ 1983 championship core was on the downslide and starting to display signs of age. The star trio of Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish had plenty of firepower for Boston and two-way guard Dennis Johnson, who joined the Celtics the year prior, made life difficult on the Sixers’ backcourt.
Boston would face the Lakers in the NBA Finals, but fell in six games.
This Sixers-Celtics series was really the end of an era. The two teams wouldn’t face each other in the postseason for another 17 years.
2002 Eastern Conference First Round: Celtics win 3-2
Hey, the first Sixers-Celtics postseason series I was alive to witness!
The Sixers were Eastern Conference Champions the year prior, but their regular season win total dropped from 56 in 2001 to 43. They just weren’t the same quality of team.
The home team won every game in this best-of-five set.
After two losses in Boston, Allen Iverson caught fire in a five-point Game 3 win with 42 points. In Game 4, Iverson provided late-game heroics, scoring eight points in the game’s final 72 seconds to give the Sixers a two-point victory.
The stage was set for a decisive Game 5 in Boston!
The Celtics won 120-87. As wild as it sounds even 24 years later, that game was actually a lot closer than the score would indicate. Boston out-scored the Sixers 43-20 in the fourth quarter due to a barrage of threes after it being a somewhat tightly contested game before that.
Paul Pierce finished with 46 points on the night for Boston while making eight of his 10 three-point attempts.
2012 Eastern Conference Semifinals: Celtics win 4-3
The Sixers weren’t supposed to be there, but they were. The eighth seed in the East during that lockout-shortened season, they upset Chicago in the first round after a career-altering injury to the Bulls’ Derrick Rose in Game 1. They then faced off with a Celtics team that was running on fumes a bit with an older group of stars that had won a title in 2008 and had made the NBA Finals in 2010.
I give these scrappy Sixers credit. They played over their heads against a Celtics team filled with future Hall of Famers and the rings to boot. The two teams split the first two games of the series in Boston with each game being decided by just a single point. The series ebbed back and forth, while also featuring approximately 400 moving screens from Kevin Garnett, before the Sixers improbably forced a Game 7.
In that matchup in Boston during Memorial Day Weekend, the Sixers fought hard, but talent inevitably won out as the Celtics advanced. Rajon Rondo had a triple-double. Jrue Holiday shot 5-17 from the field. Spencer Hawes got eaten up every second he was on the court. Evan Turner was a game-worst -23. It is what it is.
The series, strangely enough, has since been immortalized in the film Uncut Gems.
2018 Eastern Conference Semifinals: Celtics win 4-1
There’s no getting around it. This series loss sucked badly.
Ben Simmons had his first of several postseason disappearing acts. Al Horford had Joel Embiid playing the most inefficient basketball of his young career. Sixers role players who were key cogs during the stretch run to the playoffs, like Robert Covington, Marco Belinelli and Ersan İlyasova, all went cold.
After losing the first two games of the series on the road, the Sixers returned home. Could they even things up in South Philly?
Game 3 had the most infamous moment of the series. Belinelli hit a shot at the end of regulation that looked like it might have been a three-pointer, which would’ve given the Sixers the win, but was only a two-pointer, merely tying the game. Confetti erroneously went off in the arena, celebrating a win that was not meant to be. The Sixers would then lose in overtime, giving the Celtics an insurmountable 3-0 series lead that they would wrap up in five games.
The pure feel-good vibes of that season and that playoff push still have not returned for the Sixers.
2020 Eastern Conference First Round: Celtics win 4-0
This series was in the bubble. Simmons was out due to injury. Horford was awful in his one year as a Sixer after briefly leaving Boston. It was awful to watch.
We can just flush this one away, right?
2023 Eastern Conference Semifinals: Celtics win 4-3
The Sixers let this one slip away. It still sinks. I’m angry just thinking about it.
With Embiid sidelined, James Harden went off in Game 1 with 45 points for the upset road win. The Celtics crushed the Sixers in Game 2 121-87, but you could leave with that because they already stole one!
Game 3 saw the Sixers fall at home, but they evened up the series in Game 4 thanks to 42 points from Harden and 34 points from Embiid.
Headed back to Boston for Game 5, I assumed the Sixers would lose because that’s just what they do. I was wrong though! Embiid had 33. 22-year-old Tyrese Maxey had a star-in-the-making performance with 30 points. The Sixers won! They were up 3-2! They could close this bad boy out in South Philly and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 22 years!
Well, that didn’t come to fruition.
Game 6 saw Harden shoot 25 percent from the field while going 0-of-6 from deep. Tobias Harris pathetically shot 1-of-7. The Sixers actually held a two-point lead entering the fourth quarter. They couldn’t finish. It was crushing to watch it all unfold in real time.
Game 7 was a formality as the Celtics destroyed the Sixers 112-88. Everyone no-showed that one.
Those final two losses sum this entire era of Sixers basketball.
Well, I hope that all wasn’t too depressing. I imagine most Sixers fans are just numb to it now!
