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Joel Embiid ©Joel Embiid
When the Philadelphia 76ers arrived in the postseason shorthanded, they were carrying the weight of decades of postseason heartbreak and three personal series losses for their big man. But that burden was finally lifted off the shoulders of Joel Embiid on Saturday night. In a performance for the ages, the 76ers stunned the NBA world by completing a massive comeback to eliminate the Boston Celtics in seven games. While the victory was a reflection of the Sixers’ resilience that had dimmed in recent seasons, it was also a story of a fresh grudge. Following the clincher, Embiid revealed that his dominant play was sparked by what he perceived as a lack of respect from the Celtics’ locker room.
Celtics star gets credit for Joel Embiid and 76ers win
The turning point of the series may have happened before Joel Embiid even stepped foot on the court. During the lead-up to Game 3, with Embiid’s status highly questionable while he recovered from an emergency appendectomy in early April, Celtics guard Payton Pritchard dismissed the impact of the reigning MVP’s potential return. “If he plays, he plays,” Pritchard stated at the time. “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 kept those receipts and didn’t bring them out till the dust of Game 7 settled. In his post-game press conference following the Game 7 victory, Embiid directly addressed Pritchard by his jersey number 11 for the dismissive comments. “I saw, you know, number 11 on the team, before I came back. He said, they didn’t care if I was playing or not and hadn’t even adjusted or, you know, had some sort of game plan around me,” Embiid said with a smirk.
He went on to explain how that lack of preparation played right into his hands. “I think it also helps that, you know, when the other team doesn’t worry about you and have some sort of game plan or being prepared for you. So it helps you have better games. So I thank, you know, number 11 for that.”
It’s worth noting why Pritchard might say that and where exactly Embiid is accurate. The Sixers are a different team, faster and athletic when it’s the Tyrese Maxey-VJ Edgecombe duo. When Embiid is on the floor, they’re slower, but spread out. In the 38 regular season games they had Embiid this season, the team was a .632. Without him, they drop to .477. Their shooting stats are near similar with or without him showing the team’s ability to adjust to his availability.
Pritchard couldn’t have foreseen it in Game 3 after the 76ers were 0-3 that the Celtics are massively undersized to take on the 7 foot center. Contrary to what he claimed, they were in fact unprepared for Embiid’s healthy return. As Jaylen Brown said, they had no answer to The Process.
The disparity in impact was staggering as the series progressed. While Pritchard struggled under the bright lights, averaging just 13.0 points on 41% shooting and a cold 20% from beyond the arc over the final three games, Embiid authored a historic return. Despite missing the first three contests, Embiid became the first player in NBA history to score 100 points in a playoff series after missing the opening three games. But his biggest accomplishment was clapping back to anyone who shared Pritchard’s mindset.
Joel Embiid exorcised Philadelphia’s demons
By closing out Game 7, the 2026 Philadelphia 76ers became just the fifth team in NBA history to overcome a 3–1 series deficit to win a playoff round. The mountain they climbed was not just about the current scoreboard, but about a history of failure against their rivals from the North.
Prior to this victory, Embiid held an 0–3 record in playoff series against the Celtics, having suffered losses in 2018, 2020, and 2023. “Obviously I was 0 and 3, um, in Game 7s. Uh, so just wanted to bring the energy tonight,” Embiid noted, acknowledging the personal stakes involved in the matchup. The franchise itself had not bested Boston in a playoff series since 1982, making this victory a long-awaited reckoning for Philadelphia loyalists.
Those years Celtics beat Embiid, they had the cheat code in Al Horford, who’s currently with the Golden State Warriors. But when he suited up in green, Horford was Embiid’s nightmare. After disbanding the 2024 championship squad, the Celtics didn’t get an Al Horford kind of Embiid stopper.
The clinching win was a masterclass in co-star excellence. Embiid and Tyrese Maxey etched their names into the record books, becoming only the third duo in league history to each record at least 25 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists in a Game 7.
The emotional feat this is for Philadelphia can’t be summarized but it’s palpable. Embiid’s postseason injury history has dictated the mood of the home crowd. In 2025, he was sidelined with a season-ending knee injury, but played through injuries in the Sixers-Knicks series in 2024. At that time, the Philadelphia home games had more New Yorkers who vocally overpowered the locals. The kind of atmosphere that has followed them might be the subconscious reason Payton Pritchard sounded overconfident.
Sixers nation has been looking for an adrenaline boost. Who knew Embiid bouncing back, and appealing home fans for numbers, from an appendectomy in 17 days would be that!
While the ‘VJ-Max’ duo was exciting, we finally got the much awaited Maxey-Embiid combination and they didn’t disappoint. Their combined dominance ensured that the 76ers would advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2001. They now prepare for a high-stakes showdown against the New York Knicks, carrying the momentum of a historic comeback and a big man who proved exactly why opponents should never forget to game-plan for him.
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