Jaylen Brown, Payton Pritchard refuse to let early exit stain surprising season

BOSTON — The Boston Celtics came into the 2025-26 NBA season with minimal expectations. However, win by win, they built those expectations back up again and turned into a contender, even without star forward Jayson Tatum healthy for the majority of the regular season. When the playoffs arrived, the Celtics were once again competing for a championship, and nothing less, but they disappointed in the first round and were eliminated in Game 7 on Saturday night by the seventh-seeded Philadelphia 76ers.

So, how do the Celtics begin to rationalize the 109-100 loss and their historic collapse against a hated rival? While some fans might claim it was a fruitless season, especially since Green Teamers are always dreaming of championships, that's not how the players viewed it. Jaylen Brown provides a eulogy for the Celtics season: “Great season…Each and every one of (my teammates) I've watched develop get better and step up in big moments to help us win games.

” “Tonight, we came up a little bit short fourth quarter. We had some great looks that I… pic. twitter.

com/f6ZJPEnwmU — Daniel Donabedian (@danield1214) May 3, 2026 "It was a great season," Celtics star Jaylen Brown said. "I'm proud of my teammates and just their growth from guys (who are) coming from different organizations, or guys who hadn't really played a lot who stepped up big in these playoffs and stepped up big in a regular season and helped us get to the position that we're at. That's what it's about.