The Boston Celtics officially a blew a 3-1 series lead and saw their season end at the hands of the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday night at TD Garden. 

With that, the Celtics will go into a long offseason, and the front office will be left trying to figure out what happened to undo a 56-26 campaign that had championship aspirations. 

As we sit here and try to decode it all, I'm reminded of something we wrote before the series started. On April 18 we wrote a story entitled "What's the biggest fear for Boston Celtics in playoffs?"

We wrote a handful of possibilities, but No. 1 on the list?

With (Jaylen) Brown, (Jayson) Tatum, Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, Derrick White and Nikola Vucevic, the Celtics are plenty capable of lighting up the three-point line. However, they are also completely dependent on it, meaning if the shots aren't falling, they could have a hard time winning.

Boston attempted the fourth-most three-pointers per game this past season (42.1), and they made the third-most (15.5). Playoff defense is a different beast: The offense won't be able to flow as easily and the shots won't be as open.

Can Boston hit tougher and more contested threes? Can they use their offensive scheme to create those same open looks they got in the regular season, even against those tougher defenses?

That remains to be seen."

That's what we wrote then, and that's what bore out. The Celtics weren't able to fully replicate their three-point success when they needed it most.

Even though they took a 3-1 series lead, 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)

After the Game 7 loss, Pritchard didn't believe the Celtics were too dependent on jump shots:

“I don’t know, we had a 3-1 lead. So, people didn’t say that when we had a 3-1 lead. Like I said, we had good looks. If we hit them, then nobody says anything.”

That's true. But that's kind of the point. As the saying goes "Live by the three, die by the three."

Perhaps over the offseason, the Celtics will work to acquire a more interior presence to balance the offense. Or, perhaps guys already on the roster like Neemias Queta and Luka Garza will take continued steps in their development.

But that's all talk for a long offseason. Right now, all that's here is pain in the aftermath of a good season gone haywire at the end.

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