The Celtics took control of their first-round series with the 76ers on April 26, beating Philadelphia 108-100 on the road in Game 3 and moving ahead 2-1 before Game 4 on Sunday night. Boston’s win in Philadelphia restored home-court advantage and gave the Celtics the sort of edge that usually changes a series.
Boston can point to the numbers that matter. The Celtics won Game 1 by 123-91, lost Game 2 by 111-97, then closed Game 3 with an 11-4 run to pull away. Their bench scored 37 points in the opener, 20 in Game 2 and 35 in Game 3, while Philadelphia’s reserves had 27, 21 and 14 in those same games. Derrick White hurt his neck in the opening minutes of Game 3 but stayed on the floor for almost 34 minutes, and Jaylen Brown turned his ankle late in the fourth quarter yet was not listed on the injury report for Game 4.
That matters because this matchup has rarely been settled by one clean storyline. Boston went 1-2 against Philadelphia in the regular season, even though it owns a 68-51 playoff record against the 76ers and a 272-199 mark in the regular season. The Celtics are also 93-129 all time in Philadelphia, which has usually made every trip there harder than the standings suggest. Game 4 was scheduled for Sunday, April 26, 2026, at 7:00 PM ET at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
The friction point is on Philadelphia’s side of the floor. The 76ers carried the NBA’s top clutch defense in the regular season, posting a 98.6 defensive rating in the final five minutes of games within five points, and they went 23-18 in games that included clutch minutes. Boston was 16-17 in those situations, yet the Celtics outscored Philadelphia 11-4 in the final stretch of Game 3. Joel Embiid had an appendectomy on April 9, 2026, missed the first three games and was listed as doubtful for Game 4, while Kelly Oubre was questionable because of right adductor soreness.
The best Celtics vs 76ers prediction now leans toward Boston, and not just because the series score says so. Teams that win Game 3 of a series tied 1-1 go on to win the series 74% of the time, and a win in Game 4 to go up 3-1 pushes that number to 95.4%. If Philadelphia wants to flip the script, it has to do it with a shorthanded roster, on a night when the Celtics already know how to finish in the tightest moments.