Joel Embiid Return Not Enough As 76ers Blown Out By Celtics, Falling To 3-1 In Series

The Process is back, but it wasn’t enough to will the 76ers to a victory.

The 76ers never really stood much of a chance in this series against the Boston Celtics; however, when you don’t rebound well and allow 24 three-pointers, you’re not going to win many games. That’s what went down in Game 4, as the 76ers were defeated by the Celtics 128-96, moving to a 3-1 deficit in their first-round playoff series. The 76ers have lost two of the three games this series by 30+ points.

It was essentially target practice for the Celtics, who drilled 24 threes, setting a franchise record for threes made in a playoff game, with six coming from Payton Pritchard, who led the way with 32 points off the bench, while Jayson Tatum added five en route to a 30-point performance from him as well.

Joel Embiid led the way for the 76ers in his return with 26 points, 10 rebounds, and six assists, while Tyrese Maxey added 22 points and Paul George added 16.

While the three-pointers were a big difference in terms of makes, as Boston hit 24 and Philadelphia hit just nine, the offensive rebounds were the big story teller as the Celtics finished with 14 and the 76ers with six. Multiple possessions saw the Celtics getting two, three, even four shots attempted, resulting in big point runs for the Celtics that helped them grow their massive lead.

Embiid was the hot man to kick off Game 4, with the big man scoring the first eight points of the game for Philadelphia. Through free throws, a layup, and a dunk, Embiid was unstoppable through the first six minutes of the quarter, keeping the 76ers within a point as he came out to rest.

However, once he sat down for his first rest, the Celtics and more specifically Payton Pritchard and Jayson Tatum got hot. Pritchard knocked down a pair of threes and a tip-in shot for eight straight points, and Tatum kept the scoring run going with five straight points to make it a double-digit lead for Boston with under three minutes to play in the first.

Maxey knocked down a long three to end the Celtics 12-3 run, and after minutes of no points from both teams, Baylor Scheierman got the Celtics going with a long three, Jordan Walsh kept it going with a triple of his own and Pritchard closed out the first with a buzzer-beating three-pointer for Boston’s fifth of the quarter, making it 34-18 Celtics after 12 minutes.

Quarter two started similarly to the first as both teams were struggling to knock shots down, but that changed when Jaylen Brown finally started scoring, hitting his first three of the game, and Pritchard followed it up with another triple to make it a 21-point lead for Boston.

Off the bench, Quentin Grimes added five straight points to get the 76ers’ scoring going, and Adem Bona kept it going with four more. However, threes from Sam Hauser, Derrick White, and Luka Garza essentially erased those scoring runs Philadelphia went on.

Four points from Maxey and two from George and Embiid cut the deficit down, but five more points from Brown to close out the first half made it an 18-point Celtics lead and 56-38 overall.

The main issue with the buckets coming from the Celtics was the fact that it was coming on the second, third, or fourth shot of the possession, as the Celtics’ offensive rebound game was destroying the 76ers. At halftime, the Celtics had nine offensive rebounds compared to the 76ers’ zero.

Out of the half, Maxey opened the frame with a three, and George added two more in the first minute, but Boston went on a huge run to extend their lead to 26. It was the Brown and Tatum show for the first half of the quarter, with Brown scoring six straight points and Tatum hitting a three to make it 69-43.

Embiid finally got the 76ers going with a bucket, and Maxey followed up with a long three, but Brown and Tatum continued their hot quarter with the next nine straight points for Boston, until that ended with back-to-back threes from Pritchard.

George and Embiid answered back each with a three-pointer, scoring eight more points to close out the third quarter for 32 points of the night, all in just three quarters. Maxey added four points, and George dilled another three, but Boston remained in front 95-74 heading into the final 12 minutes.

The hot night from Tatum continued to open the fourth quarter as he drilled two threes, one being a four-point play, and Neemias Queta added a layup for nine points to open the quarter, extending the Celtics’ lead to 30. The remainder of the quarter saw the Celtics continue to hit threes, and the 76ers not able to do enough to catch them.

Embiis and the majority of the starters were pulled with just under six minutes to go as both benches began playing meaningless basketball to run out the clock. With two minutes left, a three-pointer from Hauser gave them 22 three-pointers to tie their franchise record for threes, and Ron Harper Jr. drilled the 23rd to set the Celtics record for most three-pointers in a playoff game.

They’d add another three from Max Shulga for 24, as Boston dribbled out the clock, defeating the 76ers 128-96. With the loss, the 76ers fell to a 3-1 deficit in the series, facing potential elimination in Boston on Tuesday night.

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