The Celtics’ playoff exit was ugly enough on its own. Blowing a 3-1 lead and falling to the rival 76ers made sure of that. And while Jayson Tatum had his bright stretches, the run still didn’t land like the emphatic comeback statement he probably wanted after returning from an Achilles tear.
Still, the playoffs did answer one big question about Tatum.
Just over nine months after that injury, he showed he could do far more than simply survive out there. His three-point shot settled back in.
His rebounding was at the highest level of his career. The playmaking was sharp.
The defense, as usual, held up.
But the most encouraging piece might have been the simplest: Tatum was elite when he attacked the rim.
Among all players who drove the ball at least 50 times in the 2026 playoffs, Tatum finished with the highest field goal percentage, knocking down 63.3% of those looks. That matters because the biggest concern after an Achilles tear isn’t whether a player can still shoot or pass - it’s whether the burst is still there. It’s whether he can create separation and finish through playoff defenses.
Tatum answered that question in his first playoff action back. For a player coming off an injury that severe, that kind of driving efficiency is a huge sign that the athleticism is returning faster than expected.
There was also another positive on the Boston side: Payton Pritchard, who is set for a bigger role this season, ranked fourth in the NBA in field goal percentage on drives in the playoffs at 55.9%. He was tragically underutilized, but with the offseason changes, that shouldn’t happen again.
So even if the collapse still stings, the numbers point to something useful for Boston’s future. The Celtics now have two players who should handle a lot of the ball this season, and both are efficient scorers at all three levels with strong playmaking chops. That doesn’t erase the playoff mess, but it does make the summer changes easier to justify and gives Boston plenty to feel good about heading into the new season.
In Other News...
Brad Stevens Nearly Changed The Celtics In A Way Fans Can Now Appreciate
Five years into his run as Celtics president of basketball operations, Brad Stevens has already earned plenty of credit for the way he has reshaped the roster, but one of the more intriguing what-ifs in that stretch almost sent Boston in a very different direction. Stevens reportedly explored a sign-and-trade that would have brought Lonzo Ball to the Celtics, and the framework would have required Marcus Smart going the other way, a swap that would have dramatically altered the teams identity at the time.
It never got across the finish line, and the timing of it matters now in a way it probably did not then. Balls time with the Bulls was later derailed by significant knee injuries, which makes the Celtics restraint look a lot different in hindsight, especially for a front office that has had its share of close calls before. Former executive Danny Ainge nearly took similar swings on Robert Swift and Justise Winslow, reminders that big personnel decisions often look much smarter, or much worse, only after the fact. [Read more 🡒]
Devin Carter's Celtics Chance May Have Started With One Lost Opportunity
Devin Carters path to Boston appears to have been shaped by a trade conversation that never quite got over the finish line. Reports say the Hawks and Hornets discussed a deal built around Buddy Hield and Dorian Finney-Smith, with Carter potentially in the mix, before Atlanta chose to waive him rather than fold him into the transaction. It leaves the impression of a player briefly caught in the machinery of bigger roster plans, then left to find his next opening elsewhere.
For the Celtics, that kind of opening can matter. Carter has since landed in Boston on a non-guaranteed deal, giving him a chance to prove he belongs in camp and beyond without any firm security attached. The unanswered part is the one that still lingers around the whole sequence: whether Charlotte ever truly wanted him in the first place, or whether being waived was something Carter preferred as he searched for a better landing spot. [Read more 🡒]
Joe Mazzullas Celtics Keep Looking Elite With One Lingering Problem
Joe Mazzulla has built the Celtics into one of the leagues most consistently dominant teams, with Boston finishing among the top five in both offensive and defensive ratings across his four seasons at the helm. The regular-season rsum is as strong as any in the sport, and it now includes an NBA championship, a sign that the standard in Boston has remained elite no matter the matchup or the month.
The wrinkle, as impressive as the overall record looks, is that the postseason has not always followed the same script. Boston has suffered early playoff exits in three of those four seasons, leaving a gap between how the Celtics perform over 82 games and how far they have been able to carry that success in spring. Mazzullas numbers still place him among the best ever in regular-season winning percentage and seventh in playoff winning percentage, but the Celtics next step remains about turning that steady excellence into more sustained postseason runs. [Read more 🡒]