Joel Embiid Leads Philadelphia 76ers Past Boston Celtics in Playoff Upset

Joel Embiid delivered a stellar performance with 34 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists, while Tyrese Maxey added 30 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Philadelphia 76ers past the Boston Celtics 109-100 in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference first-round NBA Playoffs at TD Garden in Boston.

The victory marked the first time in Philadelphia 76ers history that the team overcame a 3-1 deficit in a playoff series. It also represents the 14th time in NBA history a team has achieved such a comeback. After losing Games 1, 3 and 4, coach Nick Nurse's squad won the final three games to complete the reversal.

“We just managed to handle things on the road, but I think this experience was really good for us,” Nurse said after the game.

As the No. 7 seed, Philadelphia will face the No. 3 seed New York Knicks in Game 1 of the second round on Monday.

“What changed in this series was the return of Joel Embiid, and the team became completely different,” Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla commented.

Embiid played only the final three games of the series after being sidelined since April 6 due to an emergency appendectomy during a road trip in Texas.

Boston (No. 2 seed) cut the deficit to 99-98 on two free throws by Neemias Queta, but Maxey scored eight consecutive points to push Philadelphia ahead 107-98 with 15 seconds remaining.

Rookie VJ Edgecombe scored 23 points for Philadelphia, and Paul George added 13. The 76ers bench contributed only 3 points, all from Quentin Grimes.

For Boston, Jaylen Brown led with 33 points and 9 rebounds. Derrick White finished with 26 points, Queta had 17 points and a team-high 12 rebounds off the bench. Starters Baylor Scheierman, Luka Garza and Ron Harper Jr. were held scoreless. Reserve Payton Pritchard added 13 points, and Sam Hauser contributed 11.

The Celtics shot just 26.5% from three-point range (13 of 49) and 39.8% overall (37 of 93). In contrast, the Sixers hit 39.3% from beyond the arc (11 of 28) and 47.6% overall (39 of 82).

“We always play to the team’s strengths,” Mazzulla said.

“In the last two games and part of this one, we defended really well,” Nurse said. “We didn’t give them good looks. That was probably the biggest key to the whole series.”

Philadelphia started strong, scoring the first 9 points and leading 30-15 after a basket by Embiid with 1:55 left in the first quarter, ending the period ahead 32-19. Boston scored 18 of the first 22 points in the second quarter to take a 37-36 lead on a three-pointer by Pritchard, but Philadelphia regained control and led 55-50 at halftime.

An 8-0 run pushed Philadelphia ahead 63-52, and later the lead grew to 84-66 after a three-pointer by Edgecombe with 2:24 left in the third quarter. The score stood at 88-75 after three periods.

Boston opened the fourth quarter with a 16-4 run to cut the deficit to one point (92-91) with 7:59 remaining. Philadelphia led 95-94 at the 5:52 mark. “They just played in transition for about 12 straight minutes, and finally we got them stopped to set up our offense,” Nurse explained. “Defense was the difference for us in the last three minutes. We kept them in the half-court until the final 90 seconds when they just threw it up.”

Mazzulla concluded: “I love the opportunities we had, love the process we executed, but hate the outcome.”