The Boston Celtics suffered a surprising first round defeat in the 2026 NBA Playoffs, blowing a 3-1 series lead to the Philadelphia 76ers. And Bill Simmons knows who is most at fault.
After the Sixers went into Boston and took Game 7 on Sunday night, the Bill Simmons podcast was always going to be appointment viewing. Nobody wears their sports colors quite like the man who rose to fame as the Boston Sports Guy. And the stunning nature of Boston’s collapse meant everyone was hanging on with baited breath to hear what Simmons would have to say about his beloved Celtics falling short.
As it turns out, his analysis was fairly straight-forward. It was the fault of head coach Joe Mazzulla.
Simmons took issue with how the Celtics head coach handled his rotation after the return of Jayson Tatum, the C’s style of play, and how he refused to use his bench that powered the Celtics to such a remarkable season while Tatum was on the sidelines recovering from his Achilles injury.
Some thoughts on the Celts pic.twitter.com/I9Ao7SZRP1
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) May 4, 2026
“I thought Mazzulla was incredible in the regular season. Honestly, I voted for him for Coach of the Year, I thought he was incredible. I don’t know what they were thinking with this playoffs. I have so many questions. And look, did Philly win this series or did Boston blow it? I think the answer is both. They went back to their 2024 style without the same players is my biggest issue. They slowed it down, they didn’t play with pace, they gave up on their bench,” Simmons said.
“I really think Mazzulla screwed this series up and I’m always going to think that,” he declared.
Joe Mazzulla certainly opened himself up to questions with the way he handled his lineup. The most puzzling decision was his call to start Luka Garza, Baylor Scheierman, and Ron Harper Jr. in Game 7 where the trio played a combined 35 minutes and scored zero points. Harper and Garza each played less than ten minutes total.
It didn’t help that the Celtics were also without Tatum, who was injured after playing the first six games of the series. His absence combined with the return of a healthy Joel Embiid tipped the scales in favor of the 76ers. But it didn’t necessarily have to turn out that way, at least according to the internet’s number one Celtics fan in Bill Simmons.
