The Philadelphia 76ers knocked the Boston Celtics out of the playoffs in the first round with a 109-100 win in Game 7 at TD Garden on Saturday. This wasn’t an outcome anyone saw coming after the Celtics went up 3-1 in this series and Jaylen Brown made some interesting comments postgame about 76ers superstar Joel Embiid.
“Embiid put a lot of pressure on us,” Brown said, via Celtics on CLNS. “On all our bigs, on our guards, we didn’t really have an answer for him. We tried a bunch of different things. He’s a big body, and he also was flopping around. He got some extra calls and stuff like that, and they rewarded him for that. But that’s the league that we’re in.”
Embiid went 9-11 from the line in Game 7 and finished with 34 points (12-26 FG), 12 rebounds, six assists, and one block. Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla threw all kinds of matchups at the big man, with even Brown guarding him for stretches. These two got into quite a trash-talking contest then, but even that didn’t put the 2023 MVP off his game.
Embiid was utterly dominant, and his getting to the line on so many occasions only added to the Celtics’ frustration. While Brown comes across as a bit salty there, he gave credit to the seven-time All-Star and the 76ers later.
“I don’t feel like they was a traditional 7th seed,” Brown said. “I think that Paul George was playing at a high level. He was shooting the ball. For someone who just had his 36th birthday, he had a very efficient series and he was very effective against some of the matchups that he was in. And then [Tyrese] Maxey was just doing what Maxey had been doing all year.
“And then Embiid made the significant difference,” Brown continued. “We just didn’t really have an answer for Embiid in the games that he played. He just was a problem for us. And obviously, we didn’t know if he was going to be able to play because of his appendicitis or whatever you call it, but I think that made the difference.
“But give credit to Nick Nurse, give credit to Philadelphia,” Brown added. “They’ve gotten better throughout this series. They playing good basketball right now. Defensively, I thought they were very, very sound. So, I give credit to Philadelphia.”
The 76ers certainly aren’t the typical seventh seed. They finished with a 45-37 record primarily due to Embiid playing 38 games and Paul George playing 37. Had the former stayed relatively healthy and the latter not been suspended for 25 games for failing a drug test, they might have finished in the top four in the East.
Embiid missed the first three games of this series as well after undergoing an appendectomy on April 9. It was unclear if the 32-year-old would even be able to play against the Celtics, and he deserves a lot of praise for fighting through adversity and delivering for this team.
Embiid had 33 points in that crucial 113-97 Game 5 win in Boston when this series seemed over. You need your superstar to step up when your back is against the wall in a hostile environment, and he did just that there. Embiid’s heroics were what gave the 76ers the belief that they’d be able to overturn a 3-1 deficit for the first time in franchise history. They’ll now take on the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
As for the Celtics, an outstanding season has ended on a terrible note. Despite Jayson Tatum being out for much of the campaign as he recovered from a torn Achilles, they earned the second seed in the East with a 56-26 record.
Brown was a big reason why, and he put up 33 points (12-27 FG), nine rebounds, four assists, and three blocks in Game 7. With Tatum out due to left knee sickness, he tried his best to get the Celtics across the finish line, but it wasn’t enough. They have now blown a 3-1 lead for the first time in franchise history, and this series loss is going to sting for a very long time.
