Joel Embiid came back. The Boston Celtics did not care.
Payton Pritchard made six three-pointers and scored 32 points, Jayson Tatum added 30 points and 11 assists, and the Boston Celtics beat the Philadelphia 76ers 128-96 on Monday to take a 3-1 lead in their NBA Eastern Conference first-round series—spoiling Embiid’s return from an appendectomy in the process. Game 5 is Wednesday in Boston, where the Celtics can close out the series.
Embiid Fought, But It Was Not Enough
The Embiid story deserved a better outcome. Just 17 days after having his appendix removed in Houston on April 9—he had been stricken with appendicitis overnight and cleared to play roughly 40 minutes before tip-off, returning to the court wearing a protective brace around his midsection—the two-time NBA scoring champion came out swinging.
He scored the Sixers’ first eight points. Two free throws, a monster two-handed jam, and a fast start that briefly made the 76ers look dangerous. But the momentum dissolved quickly. Embiid missed seven straight shots before converting a third-quarter three-point play that cut the deficit to 23—a number that told you everything about how far Philadelphia had already fallen behind.
He finished with 26 points in 34 minutes. Gutsy. Insufficient.
“What am I going to do? Cry about it?” Embiid said.
Celtics Didn’t Need a Tatum Masterclass
The Celtics did not require Tatum or Jaylen Brown to be extraordinary to win this game. Brown scored 20. Tatum and Brown had combined for just 13 points in the first half—and Boston still led by 21 at the break.
The difference was the glass. The Celtics outrebounded Philadelphia 51-30, dominated the first half with a 14-rebound edge, and turned that into a 13-0 shutout in second-chance points. When you are getting that many extra possessions, you do not need your stars to be at their sharpest.
Pritchard was the one who set the tone. He buried a long three on one leg to close the first quarter and give Boston a 34-18 lead—a bucket that effectively framed the rest of the evening.
“He’s just a guy that finds the game. He dictates the pace for us,” said Celtics coach Joe Mazulla. “When we’re at our best, he’s aggressive.”
Philadelphia’s Other Problems
Embiid’s return dominated the narrative, but Philadelphia’s issues ran deeper. Tyrese Maxey took only three shots in the first half while the team focused on getting Embiid rolling. He finished with 22 points but was direct about the slow start.
“That can’t happen. That’s on me. That’s just unacceptable by me,” Maxey said. “I was playing within the flow of the game. It kind of happened that way. It wasn’t meant to happen that way.”
Embiid shot 3-for-5 in the first quarter while the rest of his teammates missed ten of thirteen. Once Boston established its lead, the 76ers never had the collective firepower to threaten it.
“It’s going to have to be a big pick-up mentally,” said 76ers coach Nick Nurse.
What Boston Is Becoming
There were genuine questions about how Tatum’s return from a ruptured Achilles tendon—suffered in last May’s playoffs, with his comeback beginning only in early March—would affect a group that had learned to function without him. The answer, through four games, has been emphatic. Tatum has reacclimated quickly, and the Celtics are playing like a team that fully expects the Eastern Conference to run through Boston.
They can clinch Tuesday night at home. After that, they wait—watching the Atlanta Hawks and New York Knicks finish their series to find out who comes next.
