The Boston Celtics just added their name to a list no contender ever wants to be part of. Closing as -1300 series favorites against the Philadelphia 76ers, Boston wasn’t just expected to win; they were expected to dominate. Instead, they’re now tied for the fourth-biggest favorite to lose a playoff series since 1990, a collapse that puts them alongside some of the most infamous upsets in NBA history.

To understand the shock of this, consider the company they’ve joined. The -2000 Seattle SuperSonics lost to the Denver Nuggets in 1994. The -1800 Dallas Mavericks fell to the Golden State Warriors in 2007. The -1400 Chicago Bulls losing to Philadelphia in 2012. And the -1300 Los Angeles Clippers collapse against Denver in 2020. These aren’t just losses; they’re historical failures that defined eras.

Now the Celtics are right there with them. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Boston had the talent, the depth, and the expectations of a team built to contend for a title. But playoff basketball isn’t played on paper. The Sixers flipped the script, executed when it mattered, and exposed cracks that the market and many fans either overlooked or underestimated. Jayson Tatum did not play in Game 7, but there is still zero reason the Celtics should have lost this series.

For Boston, the fallout might be massive. When you’re favored at that level, anything short of advancing is a disaster. Questions will be asked about roster construction, the strategy of just chucking threes when they aren’t falling, and whether this group can actually get it done when it matters most. I’d expect a lot of changes with their roster in the offseason.

For Philadelphia, it’s the opposite. This is a defining win, one that shifts narratives and proves they can take down elite competition on the biggest stage, and finally produce some results with the elite core of players they already have.

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