Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers advanced to the Eastern Conference semi-finals, beating the Jayson Tatum-less Boston Celtics 109-100 on Saturday night to complete a comeback from a 3-1 deficit for just the 14th time in NBA playoff history.
Embiid finished with 34 points, 12 rebounds and six assists. Tyrese Maxey added 30 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. VJ Edgecombe scored 23 points and Paul George had 13.
Philadelphia, the No 7 seed, will visit No 3 New York on Monday night in Game 1 of the second round. As Embiid celebrated, he had a message for 76ers fans: don’t let Knicks fans come to Philly to disrupt home advantage.
“I just have a message for our fans,” Embiid said. “Last time we played the Knicks, it felt like [Philadelphia] was Madison Square Garden East. We’re gonna need the support. Don’t sell your tickets. This is bigger than you. We need you guys.”
When the Knicks and 76ers met in the playoffs two years ago, New York fans were present in Philadelphia in huge numbers. At the time, Embiid said “it kind of pisses me off, especially because Philly is considered a sports town.” On Saturday night, he offered to use his own money to preserve home advantage.
“Knicks fans travel – they buy tickets. There’s gonna be people who will sell the tickets because they need the money. Don’t do it, we need you guys. We need the support, and we need them to be extremely loud. If you need money, I’ve got you,” said Embiid, who is due to earn $58m this season.
The 76ers’ win over the East’s No 2 seed was a small measure of revenge after Boston blew out Philadelphia in Game 7 in the second round of the 2023 playoffs.
“We had a chance to beat them three years ago, didn’t do it. We came in and got it done,” Maxey said.
Embiid, who debuted in Game 4 after recovering from appendectomy surgery, is the first player in NBA history to score 100 points in a playoff series despite missing the first three games.
Jaylen Brown led Boston with 33 points and nine rebounds. Derrick White had 26 points, including five three-pointers. The Celtics struggled from the three-point line for the third straight game, finishing 13 of 49.
Brown said Embiid changed tenor of the series. “He put a lot of pressure on us,” Brown said. “We didn’t really have the answers for him.”
Boston coach Joe Mazzulla shrugged off any notion that his team was too dependent on threes in the series. “I love the looks that we got. I love the process that we had.. But I hate the result,” Mazzulla said.
The Celtics made their earliest exit from the playoffs since the 2020-21 season. Boston fell to 32-1 when leading a series 3-1.
The Celtics played without Tatum after he was ruled out about 90 minutes before tipoff with knee stiffness. Brown said he didn’t find out until about 45 minutes before the game. “Nobody told me anything. But my mindset was the same,” Brown said.
Mazzulla said Tatum came to the team facility Saturday with knee discomfort, and the medical team decided he would not play. Tatum briefly left Game 6 in the third quarter for unspecified treatment to his left calf. Mazzulla downplayed the significance at the time, saying initially Tatum would play in Game 7.
With Tatum out, Mazzulla made radical changes to the starting lineup, opting to start Baylor Scheierman, Luka Garza and Ron Harper Jr alongside Brown and White. It was the first time that group started together this season and the Celtics quickly fell into a 9-0 hole. Philadelphia led by 15 in the first quarter and 32-19 when it ended.