A Vintage, Hungry Joel Embiid Leads the 76ers to Series Comeback over Boston

Who would have thought that the Philadelphia 76ers—a team that couldn’t even get out of the play-in in the regular season—would be in this spot? Coming in as the seven seed in the play in, the Sixers dominated the Orlando Magic, but saw a tall task ahead in the Boston Celtics. Not having Joel Embiid for the foreseeable future at the time meant that this task wasn’t just going to be difficult, it was going to be almost impossible.

The Celtics and Sixers split the first two games of the series in Boston, but the Celtics quickly turned that tight series into a commanding 3-1 lead after winning game three and game four, leaving Philadelphia with one of the toughest situations to be in as a team in the playoffs. While the Big Fella was able to return for game four, just under three weeks from his appendectomy, he really didn’t fully look like himself. His 26 points were good to see, but shooting just 9/21 from the field showed he wasn’t ready to get back into the swing of things like his usual self.

Down 3-1, Embiid and the 76ers could have given in, realizing the competition was just too much to handle. Instead, they dug in deep and shocked the NBA world.

In the past two seasons, Embiid had finally started to regress from his MVP form and looked to be falling into a downward trajectory. But when he came back on the floor and fully got back to his true form in Game 5, that old self came back.

In Game five, Embiid was simply unstoppable. Joel came in and dropped 33 points and added eight assists, along with 4 rebounds in Boston to lead the team to a 16-point win. Having lost two games by 30+ points earlier in the series, Embiid and Philadelphia knew they needed a big addition from him in order to combat the Celtics. Tyrese Maxey additionally had brought some momentum back to the team, as he had played decently poorly in the first few games but turned it up in game five.

Game six was much of the same story for Embiid. While Joel was unable to be the main scoring option, giving that role to Tyrese Maxey, his 19 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists were huge factors to the teams 13 point win. Being able to give the majority of load to Maxey helped Embiid take a lot of weight off of his shoulders, letting him take a backseat in trying to get every bucket every possession.

Then it all came down to Game seven.

With Jayson Tatum being ruled out, Philadelphia saw an opening to stun Boston and did just that. Joel Embiid, jawing back and forth with each other all game long, fought tooth and nail to see who could come out on top and eliminate the other. The two stars battled aggressively, fighting through contact, getting techs on one another, and starting what may be a serious, intense rivalry. Brown’s 33 points were huge toward Boston’s efforts, but Embiid being able to come in and add 34 points, 12 rebounds, and 6 assists, looking like his former MVP self in the game. Along with Embiid, Maxey dropped 30 points and added 11 rebounds and seven assists, showing that even with dominance from Embiid, Maxey can make a huge impact. The team fought hard with Boston, but eventually came out on top 109-100, booking their ticket to the second round where they will take on the New York Knicks.

This is a task that the entirety of the league thought the 76ers had no chance of completing. Boston had won every series in their history when up 3-1, and Philadelphia was 0-18 when down. The Celtics had beat the 76ers in every playoff series since 1982, giving some fans no hope that Philly would ever be able to get it done again. But this team not only got it done; they sent a message to the NBA world.

Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers are back, and they are hungry for more.

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