The Philadelphia 76ers’ 2025-26 season could be approaching its swan song, with the Boston Celtics just one win away from closing out the first-round playoff series and eliminating the Sixers.
Though, to be fair, I think “swan songs” are supposed to be beautiful or brilliant. This feels quite far from that.
The Sixers trail the Celtics 3-1 in the first-round playoff series that has been a rollercoaster of emotions. Game 1, an embarrassing defeat. Game 2, a triumphant and somewhat unexpected level of turnaround,
stealing a win in Boston. Game 3, putting up a fight but back making old mistakes in a close loss. Game 4, the excitement of Joel Embiid’s return quickly marred by yet another crushing defeat.
Like I said, a rollercoaster for sure. One that could come to an end with a loss in Tuesday’s Game 5.
The Celtics’ injury report remains clean as of Monday night. For the Sixers, only Embiid appears, currently listed as probable (post appendectomy surgery recovery). One can imagine that, based on history, it would take a hell of a lot to keep Embiid off the floor for a game like this. On Sunday, he had been listed as doubtful before being upgraded to questionable in the afternoon and then ultimately played 34 minutes (for a 26-point, 10-rebound double-double) in that contest — just 17 days after having his emergency appendectomy.
We’re at Game 5 of this now, there’s not a whole lot new to say in terms of the matchup. We have all seen what the Celtics are capable of. Not just their starters, but their bench too. On any given night, there’s someone to carry the weight for Boston. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were nearly inconsequential through the first two and a half quarters of Game 4, and yet the Celtics were still already carrying a comfortable lead when those two got going thanks to Payton Pritchard repeatedly punishing the Sixers for giving him space behind the arc.
The Sixers had just one game of ever looking like they were one step ahead of the Celtics, utilizing a high screen pick-and-roll on repeat. It earned Philly their lone win in the series, but Boston adjusted effectively between games and the Sixers were out of luck again. It’s not just one thing that seems to be the Sixers’ particular weakness in this series — it’s everything. Poor shooting, non-existent rebounding, being completely lost on defense, puzzling rotation decisions and not adjusting to or learning from mistakes. All of those errors facing a stacked, effective Celtics lineup is simply not going to cut it.
The reality is that, even if the Sixers steal away a game (or maybe even two) from the Celtics, Philadelphia as an organization is so far behind Boston at this point. The Celtics have big name stars performing in the big moments, an incredible supporting cast down the depth chart filling in the gaps as well as proactive coaching. The Celtics are everything the Sixers organization has tried to claim they are. But they’re the real deal, while the Sixers continue to kick the can on the same issues season after season. This is where that strategy has taken us.
This is truly not me just indulging in baseless negativity. We at Liberty Ballers would all love to be writing about games of scrappy fight and fire like Game 2 and even parts of Game 3. I personally would love to be proven wrong and have them come out tonight looking like a different team than they did on Sunday. But these issues have been the same, evident and obvious, season after season.
Don’t get me wrong, I think we all knew coming into this series that the Sixers didn’t realistically stand a chance against this Celtics squad. Like I said, these are simply two organizations in two very different places. I just think maybe my expectations were at least a little higher than what we saw in Games 1 and 4. It’s one thing to lose a game to a much better team, it’s another to — for example — not grab a single offensive board (on a night you’re not making any shots) until well into the third quarter. It’s one thing to get beat, it’s another to basically not even step in the ring.
An upset win on Tuesday night would keep the Sixers alive another day, forcing a Game 6 in Philadelphia that would be played on Thursday, but it’s going to take a major, complete 180-degree turnaround from that last contest. I’d love to see it, but it’s going to take a hell of a lot.
You’ll need Embiid moving and dominating even with lingering affects of the appendectomy. You’ll need Tyrese Maxey to find a way to produce even with Embiid on the floor, while also clearly still dealing with the pinky issue. You’ll need rookie VJ Edgecombe to sink some buckets and especially some threes. You’ll need a bench unit that isn’t going to only put up 10 points total. You’ll need to actually rebound the ball and not give the Celtics six shot attempts in the same possession. And that’s not even all the stars likely required to align, I’m just stopping myself before it gets too redundant.
But, hey, it would be very Sixers to extend this series another game just to drag things out a bit, right? Can we at least get one more fun Edgecombe performance to get excited about?
Game 5 tips off at 7:00 p.m. ET.
Game Details
When: Tuesday, April 28, 7:00 p.m. ET
Where: TD Garden, Boston, MA
Watch: ESPN
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Follow: @LibertyBallers
