For 4 Celtics players, Sunday’s Game 1 win over 76ers was extra special

BOSTON — With the first quarter clock winding down, Jordan Walsh sprinted as fast as he could down the court. In perfect harmony, Jayson Tatum found him for a transition layup to beat the buzzer, and the Celtics extended their lead over the Philadelphia 76ers to 15 in the opening game of the playoffs.

In the grand scheme of things — a 32-point Celtics victory — the sequence wasn’t particularly consequential, though it did amp up the TD Garden crowd.

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For Walsh, however, it was the very first time he’d tallied a basket in the NBA playoffs.

As such, he turned to the Celtics bench, emphatic: after two years of riding the Celtics bench during the playoffs, the 22-year-old was a part of the postseason action. And, he was far from the only guy on the roster getting that first taste of the playoffs.

On Sunday, in a 123-91, wire-to-wire Celtics win over the 76ers, Neemias Queta, Jordan Walsh, Luka Garza, and Baylor Scheierman all saw their first meaningful playoff action.

Before Game 1, the foursome had combined for a total of 31 playoff points. And, in one raucous afternoon at TD Garden, they nearly matched that number; Queta (13 points), Garza (7 points), Walsh (5 points), and Scheierman (5 points) combined for 30 in the victory.

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“I know the coaches have been talking to them,” said Sam Hauser, who started his first-ever NBA playoff game on Sunday. “Just saying, like, ‘Be ready. Might be five minutes, could be 20. Just never really know. But, [you] just got to make your minutes count.’”

In their own way, they each did just that.

And, even Sam Hauser, a relative vet compared to some of the younger guys, played his most-ever playoff minutes (28), and recorded a playoff-career-high 7 rebounds. Hauser also made the second-most threes (4) of his playoff career.

“There’s definitely some anxiety, to just kind of get stuff going,” Hauser said. “You’re just anxious; you want to get out there and get the ball tipped off.”

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Each of the playoff newcomers found a different way to make their impact

Mazzulla, from the jump, stressed to the less experienced guys on the…

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Publish date : 2026-04-20 03:52:00

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