Well Philly faithful, you wanted the Celtics … so, how do you like them now?

The only obvious conclusion after the Celtics dismantled the Sixers in Game 1 is that this first-round playoff series won't last long.

Guard Kelly Oubre Jr. and the Sixers were left befuddled and soundly beaten in Sunday's Game 1 at TD Garden. Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff

By Chad Finn

April 20, 2026 | 8:44 AM

4 minutes to read

COMMENTARY

You wanted Boston, Philly fans?

Well, you got Boston. For four games, anyway. Maybe five, should the Celtics take a team-wide catnap for 40 or so minutes during a Sixers home game in this best-of-seven Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.

But after those four games — oh, right, maybe five, should that catnap happen, or Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe morph into vintage Allen Iverson and Andrew Toney for a game — what your Sixers will have is the putting green, perhaps some sandy shores, and whatever else begins to fill the offseason time of a team mercifully eliminated.

We’re not usually big around here on drawing grand conclusions from the first game of a playoff series. But after the Celtics dismantled the Sixers in Sunday’s Game 1, winning 123-91 and making Sixers fans’ chants of “We want Boston!” during Wednesday’s play-in win over the Magic look ridiculous, the conclusions we are drawing are not grand. These conclusions are obvious.

The Celtics had no drama, no suspense, and no problems in Game 1. They shot the ball well (50 percent overall, 36.4 percent from 3) and hassled the Sixers’ rapid backcourt duo of Maxey and Edgecombe into 14-of-36 shooting, including 1 of 9 from 3. (Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla matched up Derrick White’s minutes with Maxey’s, one more bit of evidence that he’s the modern Dennis Johnson but without the occasional moods.)

Public address announcer Eddie Palladino had barely finished introducing the starting lineups when the Celtics jumped to a 22-9 lead with 5:21 left in the first quarter. White hit Jaylen Brown for a layup, extending a Celtics run to 14-2. The Celtics hit the 50-point mark with 6:40 left in the half, and scored at least 28 points in each of the four quarters.

Jaylen Brown showed emotional leadership during the Celtics’ blowout victory to start their playoff journey. – Barry Chin/Globe Staff

That start-to-finish excellence was the blueprint for winning this series with ease, perhaps in a gentleman’s sweep — meaning one cursory loss on the road. But they don’t seem all that interested in playing like gentlemen right now. They’re playing like they’re on a mission to prove every doubter a fool, particularly their two most accomplished stars — Brown and Jayson Tatum, or “Batman and Batman,” as ESPN analyst Jay Bilas twice put it during the broadcast.

Tatum, in his first playoff appearance since rupturing his right Achilles last May 12 during Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, played an all-around sensational game from the jump. Playing the whole first quarter, he scored 10 points, grabbed 7 rebounds, and had 4 assists as the Celtics seized a 33-18 lead after the first 12 minutes.

He finished with a near triple-double — 25 points, 11 rebounds, and 7 assists — and might have one had he not checked out for good with 7:15 left. It’s just one playoff game, but it was understandably fulfilling for Tatum: one more injury ghost exorcised, one more checkmark on the post-comeback to-do list.

“There were days where I wasn’t even sure I was going to play this season, let alone get a chance to play today,” said Tatum. “So, I’m openly just grateful that I’m in this position.”

Meanwhile, the other Batman (Batman 1A? Co-Batman?) did his finest work after intermission. Brown scored 16 of his 26 points in the third quarter, including the Celtics’ final 7. He also contributed 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals while sitting out the entire fourth quarter.

“That was Celtics basketball,” said Brown afterward. “We’ve been a hard-playing team all year; that can’t change now that the playoffs have started. But then it’s just focusing in, honing in on the details, and just winning the fight.”

Brown was the subject of another Bilas proclamation, which repeated in the third quarter: “I don’t think there’s any question that Jaylen Brown is going to be first-team all-NBA,” said Bilas in the first quarter. He doubled down in the third quarter — “He’s going to be first-team all-NBA this year,” Bilas again declared.

And while there is a lot of question whether Brown makes first team now that Cade Cunningham and Luka Doncic were declared eligible, it would be a shame if he doesn’t. Especially since the defense-averse Doncic has run past midcourt approximately 14 times, 15 at most, since the start of the 2024 NBA Finals.

One of Brown’s steals was important, at least as far as second-half plays went. With the Sixers trailing, 73-58, after knocking 8 points off the Celtics’ lead and the home team suddenly playing too methodically, Brown hustle and awareness tipped away a Philly pass at midcourt, got the ball back, and drilled a 3.

When Nikola Vucevic followed with another 3, building the Celtics lead back to 21, the only suspense remaining was basically whether Ron Harper Jr. — a favorite in this space from his time with the Maine Celtics — would continue to look like a future rotation player during garbage time. (He did, with 5 points in four minutes.)

Before it was over Celtics fans, as they are always adept at doing, trolled Sixers fans on a championship level — chanting a mocking “We want Boston!” late in the easy breeze to victory.

This is where we are obliged to remind those same Philly fans of something they surely already know: every Celtics-Sixers game doubles as a massive what-if for Philly. If you’ll recall, and I know you will, the Celtics took Brown and Tatum — right, Jay, the two Batmen — with the No. 3 pick in back-to-back drafts, in 2016 and ’17.

The Sixers picked first in both of those years, taking Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz, even sending the No. 3 pick that became Tatum and a bonus future first-round pick Danny Ainge’s way for the top pick and the right to take Fultz after the Celtics had won the lottery. That future pick was part of the package to acquire White.

Bet you guys wanted all of that too.

Chad Finn

Sports columnist

Chad Finn is a sports columnist for Boston.com. He has been voted Favorite Sports Writer in Boston in the annual Channel Media Market and Research Poll for the past four years. He also writes a weekly sports media column for the Globe and contributes to Globe Magazine.