{"id":715689,"date":"2026-04-22T07:39:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T07:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/715689\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T07:39:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T07:39:26","slug":"do-the-76ers-have-a-chance-against-the-celtics-if-they-prolong-the-series-and-get-joel-embiid-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/715689\/","title":{"rendered":"Do the 76ers have a chance against the Celtics if they prolong the series and get Joel Embiid back?"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOSTON \u2014 As the door to the Philadelphia 76ers<\/a>\u2019 locker room opened in the bowels of TD Garden, following a 111-97 victory<\/a> over the host Celtics<\/a>, evening the first-round playoff series 1-1, Trendon Watford<\/a> welcomed an oncoming horde of media members.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told you,\u201d he said, \u201cYou\u2019re gonna get some good s*** to write about.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He was right. The Sixers had given us something to consider. The seventh seed, if it can prolong this series, might just have a chance, and his name is Joel Embiid<\/a>. The one-time MVP has been sidelined since April 9, ever since his appendectomy.<\/p>\n

\u201cGodspeed, brother,\u201d said Sixers wing Kelly Oubre Jr.<\/a>, who made two of his team\u2019s 19 3-pointers on the night, finishing with 12 points and 5 rebounds. \u201cBut at the end of the day it would be the biggest lift we could ask for right now. He\u2019s such a talent, and he\u2019s our guy. Praying for his recovery. Hope everything\u2019s going well back at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 76ers will return to Philadelphia<\/a>, where Embiid is recovering, having stolen one of two games in Boston. Having bounced back from a 32-point blowout in Game 1 to force the issue: Could the undermanned Sixers steal another one at home in Game 3 or 4, forcing a Game 6 in the City of Brotherly Love on April 30, when Embiid would be three weeks removed from surgery? The Sixers aren\u2019t saying Embiid will be back.<\/p>\n

They also aren\u2019t saying he won\u2019t be.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re gonna go home and check on him,\u201d added Oubre, the 11-year veteran. \u201cEverybody gonna huddle around him and say a prayer, so he can come back. I think he\u2019s doing everything he possibly can, so it\u2019d be the biggest lift we could ask for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, the biggest one since rookie VJ Edgecombe became the youngest player ever to record 30 points and 10 rebounds in a playoff game<\/a> on Tuesday. The Rookie of the Year finalist made every shot the Celtics gave him, and they gave him a lot, if only because they had to collapse their defense onto Tyrese Maxey<\/a> (29 points, 9 assists).<\/p>\n

\u201cYou did that?\u201d George asked Edgecombe, congratulating the rookie.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been impressive all season long,\u201d added George. \u201cTo put a whole season together and get to this point, where he\u2019s showcasing who he is and his abilities. I\u2019ve been saying it all year long: He\u2019s far past a rookie.\u201d George turned to Edgecombe.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAre you 21 yet?\u201d the nine-time All-Star asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d said the rookie. \u201cI\u2019m 20.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no telling what his ceiling is<\/a>, and that\u2019s scary for the Celtics. Because when paired with Maxey and George, that is \u2026 something for the Sixers, even without Embiid. Whether it is enough to contend with Jaylen Brown<\/a> (36 points on Tuesday), Jayson Tatum<\/a> (one assist shy of a triple-double), Derrick White<\/a> and the rest of Boston\u2019s stellar supporting cast, time will tell. Embiid, too, might have a say.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not really a traditional seventh seed,\u201d Tatum reminded us after Game 1, when his Celtics looked like world-beaters<\/a>. \u201cThey\u2019re a really, really talented team. Nick Nurse is a championship coach. \u2026 They\u2019re a really complete team. Obviously, they\u2019re missing Joel, but they\u2019ve got some really talented guys, some guys that play hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Sixers felt like they didn\u2019t make the Celtics feel like Game 1 was a playoff game. Boston was prepared for battle. Philadelphia was not. But there was reason for that.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as the 30-point loss, this is [Adem] Bona\u2019s first time in the playoffs, VJ\u2019s first time, Justin [Edwards\u2019] first time, [Dominick] Barlow\u2019s first time \u2014\u00a0that\u2019s four guys who played Game 1 for the first time in TD Garden against the Boston Celtics, who won a championship a couple years ago,\u201d said Maxey. \u201cSo, listen, I wasn\u2019t too worried about it. Every loss in the playoffs sucks, whether you lose by 1 or 40 \u2026 they all don\u2019t feel good. It\u2019s just one game, though. It\u2019s just one game. Now, it\u2019s 1-1 and who cares?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Yes, the 76ers \u201ccame out more physical\u201d in Game 2, a cliche they all proudly touted, but they also shot the hell out of the ball. They made 19-of-39 3-point attempts. Only twice<\/a> all year \u2014 a pair of blowout victories \u2014\u00a0did the Sixers shoot better from deep.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Celtics missed 37 of their 50 3-point attempts. On only one occasion all season \u2014 a 105-103 loss to the tanking Utah Jazz<\/a> \u2014 did they miss more. The shot-quality crowd will tell you Boston should have won Game 2 by 15<\/a>. And they\u2019d be right.<\/p>\n

But Philadelphia also figured out something from Game 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time I drove, they were collapsing, collapsing, collapsing,\u201d said Maxey, bound for an All-NBA team, \u201cso I had to watch the film and realize, OK look, for us to be good in this series, I\u2019ve got to get in the paint, pass the ball, get my teammates involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s on Boston to make the next adjustment onto Philadelphia\u2019s shooters.<\/p>\n

But Philly might have an adjustment of its own coming, and his name is Joel Embiid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOSTON \u2014 As the door to the Philadelphia 76ers\u2019 locker room opened in the bowels of TD Garden,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":715690,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3769],"tags":[679,7,45,46,1243,78,77,936,6462,6,678,207,3817,3804,1263,427,971],"class_list":{"0":"post-715689","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-76ers","8":"tag-76ers","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-boston","11":"tag-celtics","12":"tag-derrick-white","13":"tag-jaylen-brown","14":"tag-jayson-tatum","15":"tag-joel-embiid","16":"tag-kelly-oubre-jr","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-philadelphia","19":"tag-philadelphia-76ers","20":"tag-philadelphia76ers","21":"tag-trendon-watford","22":"tag-tyrese-maxey","23":"tag-utah-jazz","24":"tag-vj-edgecombe"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116447226381079468","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=715689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/715690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}