Recent Eastern Conference Playoffs Trend Spells Bad News For 76ers Vs. Celtics
Recent history is not on Philadelphia's side against Boston.
Recent Eastern Conference Playoffs Trend Spells Bad News For 76ers Vs. Celtics originally appeared on NESN . Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
As the seven seed in the Eastern Conference, the Philadelphia 76ers will try to upset the two seed Boston Celtics in the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs. It's going to be an uphill battle for the 76ers, however. Not only will they be without Joel Embiid to start the series, but history is not on their side .
For starters, Philadelphia has lost 15 of its 22 postseason series against the Celtics, including the last six matchups. The first round of Eastern Conference playoffs has also been incredibly lopsided. Of the 28 first-round series in the East over the last seven seasons, only one was tied 2-2 after four games .
The rest were either sweeps or 3-1 at that point. 27 out of the last 28 east first round playoff series have been either 3-1 or 4-0 through 4 games. The only exception is Cavs Magic 2024, before that you have to go back to LeBron vs Oladipo.