What is the ideal role for Boston’s bench players against the 76ers?

Of the last 20 games of Boston’s regular season, 13 featured a starting lineup of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Sam Hauser and Neemias Queta.

Despite Tatum’s late entry into the lineup, that 5-man combo is third in total minutes together this year, sporting a +7 net scoring advantage (per 100 possessions). It’s a lineup that figures to transition over into Boston’s first round series with the Philadelphia 76ers, which tips off Sunday afternoon and is the fourth postseason meeting between the two in the Jays era.

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We have a good read on who’s starting these games, but figuring out the overall rotation is a different story. All season, we’ve seen experimentation that’s led to a good problem: the Celtics have an abnormal amount of playoff-caliber talent waiting in the wings.

In last year’s 11 postseason games, the Celtics had nine players average more than 10 minutes. The year prior, the title run featured the same: nine players. It was one player less in the 2022-23 postseason, with Grant Williams having the lowest of the eight rotation guys with 17.7 minutes per game.

With the margin of error so thin, there’s no time to waste when it comes to playoff minutes. If struggles extend beyond a game, the hook is coming, and the chance to check back in may not be there waiting for you.

In this regular season, Boston had 16 players average minutes in double figures. Three of those guys are no longer Celtics and another (Dalano Banton) had a four-game sample size, but when you take a step back, you see that the Celtics, really, have 12 players on this roster that are capable of leaving a positive impact in a postseason series, however big or small that impact ultimately is.

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I guess it’s fortunate that we don’t have to make the decision of who gets those bench opportunities or who rides the pine, but let’s assume each of their primary bench players had that opportunity. What would they do with it? What role or objective allows them to impact the game the greatest against the 76ers? Let’s take a crack at it, and find out.

For the sake of time and grounded rotational…

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Publish date : 2026-04-18 09:13:00

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