The Philadelphia 76ers advanced to the Eastern Conference Semifinals with a 109-100 win over the Boston Celtics at TD Garden on Saturday. It was the Joel Embiid show here in Game 7, and the 76ers superstar thanked Celtics guard Payton Pritchard postgame for giving him some extra motivation.
“I was 0-3 in Game 7s, so just wanted to bring the energy tonight,” Embiid said, via the NBA. “But it does also help when I saw No. 11 on their team, before I came back, he said that they didn’t care if I was playing or not, and they hadn’t even adjusted or had some sort of game plan around me.
“So I think it also helps that when the other team doesn’t worry about you and have some sort of game plan or being prepared for you,” Embiid added. “So it helps you have better game. So I thank No. 11 for that.”
Pritchard poked the bear that is Embiid and paid the price. The seven-time All-Star had missed the first three games of this series after undergoing an appendectomy on April 9. Embiid had been upgraded to doubtful for Game 3, and Pritchard was asked how the Celtics were handling the possibility of him playing.
“If he plays, he plays,” Pritchard said, via Celtics on CLNS. “We’ll figure that out. It’s not like we’re sitting here worried if he’s playing or not … we haven’t even game-planned for him yet.”
Embiid took note of these comments, and he sure had the Celtics worried as this series went on. The 32-year-old made his return in Game 4 and scored 26 points, but the 76ers still lost 128-96 to fall down 3-1.
All hope seemed lost, but Embiid then stepped up. With the 76ers facing elimination in Game 5 on the road in Boston, he put up 33 points (12-23 FG), four rebounds, eight assists, and one block to power his team to a 113-97 win.
That injected belief into the 76ers, and they’d tie up the series at 3-3 with a 106-93 win in Game 6 at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia on Thursday. Embiid wasn’t quite as dominant that night, but still nearly ended up with a triple-double by recording 19 points (6-18 FG), 10 rebounds, eight assists, and one steal.
As if finding themselves in a do-or-die contest after going up 3-1 wasn’t bad enough for the Celtics, Jayson Tatum was then ruled out for Game 7 with left knee stiffness. It was well and truly advantage 76ers then, but they still had to go out and take care of business.
Embiid once again stepped up on the road with 34 points (12-26 FG), 12 rebounds, six assists, and one block to lead the 76ers to victory. They had never won a series after going down 3-1 (0-18), and doing it against the Celtics of all teams made it so much more special.
Embiid had lost to the Celtics in the playoffs in 2018, 2020, and 2023. The 76ers had last beaten them in a playoff series all the way back in 1982, and they finally exorcised their demons here. They’ll now look to get to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2001 when they take on the New York Knicks in the next round.
While Embiid covered himself in glory with his play in these last few games, Pritchard failed to impress. The 28-year-old had 13 points (5-13 FG), five rebounds, seven assists, and one steal in Game 7.
Pritchard averaged 13.0 points while shooting 41.0% from the field and 20.0% from beyond the arc over the last three games. He and his teammates, in general, went cold from three and will now carry the tag of being part of the first Celtics team to blow a 3-1 lead.
