10 Most Interesting Games on the Boston Celtics 2026-27 Schedule

The NBA schedule dropped Thursday afternoon, and once again the Boston Celtics will be one of the more heavily-featured teams on national television. They will play 27 nationally televised games: eight on NBC/Peacock, seven on Amazon Prime, seven on ESPN, three on ABC, and two on Peacock.

They have a tough month of November, with 12 of 16 games on the road, but then they spend a lot of time at home in December. It’s a quirk of the NBA Cup scheduling, which leaves a week of unscheduled games in December because of how the cup needs to play out.

It makes for some interesting matchups at odd times. Here are the 10 (and maybe more) most interesting games I see on the schedule (in order of appearance).

At Detroit Pistons, Tuesday 10/20, 3 p.m.
At Philadelphia 76ers, Tuesday, 11/10, 8 p.m.
Dallas Mavericks, Sunday, 11/15, 6 p.m.
Washington Wizards, Monday, 11/14 & 11/16, 7:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Indiana Pacers, Wednesday, 1/20, 7:30 p.m.
Philadelphia 76ers, Thursday, 1/21, 7:30 p.m
Los Angeles Lakers, Tuesday, 2/2, 8 p.m.
San Antonio Spurs, Wednesday, 3/24, 7:30 p.m.
April Game To Be Determined

At Detroit Pistons, Tuesday 10/20, 3 p.m.

Let’s open the season in the middle of the afternoon!

I don’t know if anyone is calling in sick to watch this game, but if anyone is around a TV or computer screen with NBC or Peacock on, we might see a dip in productivity to end that particular Tuesday.

It’s our first chance to see what the real starting lineup will be, how the team truly fits together, and maybe get a sense of an actual play style.

Normally I’d say the preseason can do some of that, but the preseason hasn’t had that kind of meaning for a while.

At Philadelphia 76ers, Tuesday, 11/10, 8 p.m.

Yeah, hi, it’s me, Captain Obvious.

Of course this is an interesting game. Jaylen Brown vs. the Boston Celtics, officially, for the first time. And Celtics games in Philadelphia are always nuts. This should be a fun one.

Dallas Mavericks, Sunday, 11/15, 6 p.m.

I can hear all the Mainers booking their hotel rooms for this weekend already. With the Celtics getting a few days off before this game, folks can come to town for a long weekend to watch Cooper Flagg, and even drive home after the game because of the earlier start.

Oh, and Kyrie Irving should be back, which always adds an element of vitriol. Between the people booing Irving, half the building cheering for Flagg, and everyone cheering for the Celtics … not to mention a segment of the population that was up early for a 9:30 a.m. Patriots game played in Germany and then hit the bars before the Celtic game … this could be a very interesting crowd.

There's just a recipe for weirdness in this one.

Washington Wizards, Monday, 11/14 & 11/16, 7:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.

I kind of love this.

Rookie phenom, and Brockton native, AJ Dybantsa makes his professional debut in Boston in a two-night event. This gives him a chance to either put on more than one show, or get an immediate do-over if he flubs the first one due to nerves.

Also, he can spread the love over two days, giving some of his cheering section tickets to one game, then some tickets to the other, and also giving him a chance to go back home and soak things up in a familiar setting.

Also, the Wizards aren’t blatantly trying to lose, so these games should be fun.

Indiana Pacers, Wednesday, 1/20, 7:30 p.m.

This is their first scheduled look at the Pacers with Tyrese Haliburton this season, and it happening in January will give us a good look at who the Pacers are. We’re assuming the Pacers will be good this season, and Haliburton seems anxious to get back to action after his Achilles tear, but it will probably take a little time to figure some things out.

This could be the beginning of things starting to click for Indiana. I wouldn’t be shocked if they came into this part of the season with a sub-.500 record but suddenly starting to play good basketball.

The only question here is who will play for Boston, because they have a big game the next night on national TV …

Philadelphia 76ers, Thursday, 1/21, 7:30 p.m

Jaylen Brown’s return to Boston will be on Amazon Prime and the Celtics will be on a back-to-back.

I don’t know how many times I have to tell people the league doesn’t care about this storyline before people will listen.

But they’ll care in Boston. So it will be a big show with tons of media, a big thank you video, and who knows what else.

Los Angeles Lakers, Tuesday, 2/2, 8 p.m.

Celtics-Lakers is always a spectacle, plus Boston loves going at Luka Doncic. Also, I’ll be very curious to see what they’ve figured out as a team by February.

San Antonio Spurs, Wednesday, 3/24, 7:30 p.m.

It’s Wemby. You can’t miss a chance to see Victor Wembanyama in person. Plus, he’s the only player you can clearly make out from every seat in the building.

April Game To Be Determined

They play Cleveland, Miami, New York, Orlando, Atlanta, and Milwaukee in April. Five of those six teams are expected to either be in the playoffs or sniffing around a play-in bid. Milwaukee should be bad and the Knicks should be good, so every other team in that stretch could be fighting Boston for seeding. Tiebreakers could be on the line.

At least one of those other games, or maybe even all of them, could have playoff implications if the standings are tight enough. On top of that, Only Miami and Milwaukee (the final game of the season) are at home, so the Celtics might have to be road warriors if seeding is on the line.

It’s too early to tell which game or games will be most interesting, but there's a chance they can all be important.

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