Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey shine as Philadelphia 76ers eliminate Boston Celtics in NBA play-offs

WASHINGTON – Joel Embiid scored 34 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to propel the Philadelphia 76ers to a 109-100 road victory over Boston that eliminated the Celtics from the National Basketball Association (NBA) play-offs on May 2.

Tyrese Maxey scored 10 of his 30 points in a frantic fourth quarter as the seventh-seeded Sixers overcame the second-seeded Celtics by rebounding from 3-1 down in the best-of-seven series to book an Eastern Conference semi-final clash with the New York Knicks.

It is just the 14th time in league history that a team have overcome a 3-1 series deficit.

The series was the 23rd play-off clash between the two teams and Boston had won 15 and the previous six, knocking Embiid out of the play-offs in 2018, 2020 and 2023.

The 32-year-old had said he was tired of losing to the Celtics, and Maxey and him made sure it did not happen again, keying the 76ers’ first-ever victory in a series in which they trailed 3-1.

“We had a talk after Game 5 and just said, ‘Hey, man, we can’t let the same stuff happen over and over and over again. At some point we’ve got to put a stop to it’.

“And we did,” Maxey, who also had 11 rebounds, told broadcaster NBC.

It was not a smooth ride, even with Boston missing star Jayson Tatum, who was ruled out less than two hours before tip-off with a sore left knee.

He had exited late in the third quarter of the Game 6 blowout loss to the Sixers on April 30, and he could only watch from the bench as the Celtics’ season ended early.

Tatum, who ruptured his right Achilles tendon in the 2025 play-offs, had missed the first 62 games of the regular season but had gone from strength to strength since his season debut in March.

Jaylen Brown scored 33 points and pulled down nine rebounds to lead the Celtics, with Derrick White adding 26 points.

But Boston connected on just 13 of 49 three-point attempts and were playing catch-up all night after the 76ers pushed their lead to as many as 15 in the first quarter.

Boston clawed back and took a one-point lead midway through the second period, but they could not maintain momentum.

Up by five at half-time, the 76ers pulled away again in the third quarter and led by 13 going into the final frame.

Boston made a final push, cutting the deficit to one point multiple times in the fourth quarter to ignite the crowd at TD Garden, but they could not get over the hump.

Maxey scored eight straight points to push Philadelphia’s lead to 107-98 and the Sixers closed it out despite a scare for the oft-injured Embiid, who came up limping after a knock to the knee.

“Just playing hard,” Embiid said of their key to victory. “We started off well and then in the second quarter we kind of relaxed a little. Same thing with the start of the fourth.

“But we stuck together, closed it out,” said Embiid, who underwent an emergency appendectomy less than a month ago. “It’s about playing hard.”

“What changed in the series is Joel Embiid came back, and they’re a completely different team,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said.

Boston’s three straight defeats marked their first three-game skid since they opened the season 0-3 back in October.

Brown, who added four assists and three blocked shots, said the Celtics could be proud of a season in which they were widely expected to tread water without Tatum.

“Great season,” he said. “Obviously, it didn’t finish the way we would have liked. I give credit to Philadelphia. I watched them get better as the play-offs went on.”

“Tonight we came up a little bit short... but nothing for our team to hang our head over,” he added. AFP, REUTERS