BOSTON — “We want Boston.”
The mock chants rained down from the TD Garden crowd late in Game 1 of the Celtics’ first-round playoff series, as they built a lead as large as 35 points in a 123-91 victory. Bostonians were poking fun at a Philadelphia crowd that, nights earlier, had chanted, “We want Boston,” when their 76ers beat the Orlando Magic in the play-in tournament, setting up a best-of-seven set between the Atlantic Division rivals.
“I heard it,” said the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum. Everyone heard it.
Do the Sixers want the Celtics? It didn’t look like they did in the series opener. Their coach, Nick Nurse, called his team’s effort “unacceptable.” His 76ers have too many holes defensively and not enough to exploit on the other end of the court. Boston is the more complete team. In fact, the Celtics may be the East’s most complete team.
The question, then: Does anyone want Boston?
The West isn’t concerned with the East. The Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets have too much to worry about in their own conference. Whoever survives that gauntlet is going to feel just fine about their Finals matchup.
But in the East, where the Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers all enter the playoffs with question marks, the Celtics offered their answer in Game 1. Nobody watched them just smother the 76ers and thought, Yeah, we want Boston.
After all, Tatum looked like the Jayson Tatum of old, compiling 10 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists in the opening quarter alone. He finished with a 25-11-7 on 9-for-17 shooting, with two steals, and barely took the floor in the fourth quarter. Even teammates can forget he is only 48 weeks removed from Achilles surgery.
“It’s pretty nuts how far he’s come and how fast he’s gotten back,” said Celtics wing Sam Hauser, who added 12 points. “It just shows how determined and committed he was to his rehab and wanting to get back, and the belief he had in us — the chance we have to hopefully make a deep run — so it’s pretty impressive what he’s doing.”
Jaylen Brown, who made a surprising All-NBA First Team case during the regular season, backed it up in the playoff opener. He posted a 26-4-3, with two steals of his own, in 30 minutes, and turned Paul George into a nonfactor for much of the night.
There were questions about the rest of the Celtics, too. Not just about Tatum’s health or Brown’s emergence. Could what worked for them in the regular season — replacing erstwhile All-Stars Kristaps Porziņģis, Jrue Holiday and Al Horford with a collective that isn’t as talented but competes like hell — translate to the playoffs?
Well, the Celtics rolled out a regular rotation, 10 deep, even before things got out of hand against the 76ers, and got contributions from everyone. Hauser, Derrick White, Neemias Queta, Payton Pritchard, Nikola Vučević, Jordan Walsh, Luka Garza, Baylor Scheierman, all of them found positive ways into the box score before garbage time.
“We play our rotation,” said Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla. “We play our guys. It’s what we’ve done the entire year, and it’s what we’ll continue to do. … We just need them ready to make plays. We did that tonight, and we have to continue to do that.”
It was not like this last season. The Celtics were a top-heavy bunch that depended on talent, relying on the six guys who carried them to the 2024 NBA championship. And they were worn out. Porziņģis couldn’t stay healthy. Holiday was working on a hobbled hamstring. Horford was pushing 40 years old. And Tatum’s Achilles gave out.
They got beat in the second round of the 2025 playoffs by a harder-playing Knicks team. They let their foot off the gas and blew a pair of 20-point leads in Games 1 and 2 to New York and never recovered. It feels like they learned from that loss, and they took it out on Philadelphia, because Game 1 was certainly a mismatch in competition.
And the Celtics aren’t satisfied with a 32-point victory.
“We’ve been the harder-playing team all year,” said Brown. “That can’t change now that the playoffs have started. It’s just honing in on the details and winning the fight.”
Granted, this was one win against the 76ers, who are without one-time MVP Joel Embiid. But in it was a statement: Tatum’s Celtics took their first step back toward a third Finals in five years, and they put their foot on the gas. These Celtics will not be outplayed. They may be outscored at some point. But they will not be outplayed.
And nobody wants that.
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