Powered by Roundtable
BradyFarkas@RTBIO profile imagefeatured creator badge
Brady Farkas
1d
Updated at May 6, 2026, 20:34
featured

The two seem to disagree about what went wrong in the series with the 76ers, but what comes next.

There's a lot of things to question in Boston right now after the Boston Celtics were beaten by the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Is Jaylen Brown unhappy? Maybe.

Should the Celtics make a major trade this offseason for Giannis Antetokounmpo? Also maybe.

And are head coach Joe Mazzulla and president of basketball operations Brad Stevens on the same page? We aren't really sure.

Stevens gave an end-of-season press conference on Wednesday, and as noted by Zack Cox of the Boston Herald, he said that he felt that the Celtics had a hard time generating good looks against the 76ers in the seven-game series loss.

That's contradictory to what Mazzulla said after each loss of the series, where he repeatedly talked about the "good looks" that the team had.

So, let's dive in a little bit.

The undeniable facts

The Celtics were reliant on the three-point shot all season long, not just in the playoffs.

Boston attempted the fourth-most three-pointers per game (42.1), and they made the third-most (15.5)

Even though the Celtics took a 3-1 series lead against the Philadelphia, the three-point shooting woes in losses were pronounced.

Game 7: 13-of-49 from three (27 percent)

Game 6: 12-of-41 (29 percent)

Game 5: 11-of-39 (28 percent)

Game 2: 13-of-50 (26 percent)

As noted by Celtics insider Bobby Krivitsky, that three-point dependency clearly led to a lessened presence at the rim.

“More of an impact at the rim. And I think we do need to add to our team to do that."

The Celtics in the first round of this year’s playoffs:

-2nd-fewest attempts in the restricted area

-3rd-fewest shots in the paint outside the RA

-2nd-fewest points in the paint

As Brad Stevens addressed an offensive approach that has burned Boston the last two postseasons, he made it clear that change is on the way.

What is the real story here?

--Does Stevens think that he gave Mazzulla a balanced team and Mazzulla isn't doing enough to take advantage of it?

--Does Stevens think he didn't give Mazzulla a balanced enough team and he's taking accountability for that and will fix it this offseason?

--Does Mazzulla believe in three-point shooting as a prominent strategy and was going to turn this team into a group of jump shooters no matter what?

--Does Mazzulla think Stevens gave him an unbalanced team and there were no other options for this group?

--Is Stevens going to forcibly change the roster so that it plays a different way, and will Mazzulla be open to that, or will he then try to fit a square peg inside a round hole?

These are all things that remain to be seen over a long offseason. 

JOIN THE CONVERSATION:

Remember to join our CELTICS on ROUNDTABLE community, which is FREE! You can post your own thoughts, in text or video form, and you can engage with our Roundtable staff, as well as other Celtics fans. If prompted to download the Roundtable APP, that's free too!