Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – In a long-awaited revenge for Joel Embiid, the Philadelphia 76ers eliminated the Boston Celtics this Saturday with a 109-100 victory in the seventh and final game of this first round series of the NBA playoffs.

First modification: 05/03/2026 - 06:21

Embiid, with 34 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists, settled unfinished business against the Celtics who faced the final duel in front of their home crowd with the loss of their star, Jayson Tatum.

Philadelphia, which entered the playoffs in the playoffs, dispatched the second seed in the Eastern Conference by a 4-3 aggregate and consecutive wins in the last three games.

The Sixers are the 14th team to overcome a 3-1 aggregate deficit in the playoffs.

In the Eastern semifinals, the New York Knicks, third seed, await them, but first the Sixers had a great taste of eliminating their staunch rivals the Celtics, something they had not achieved since 1982.

Boston, NBA champion in 2024, is also mainly responsible for the fact that Embiid's exceptional individual career has not been reflected in the postseason, causing him defeats in the 2018, 2020 and 2023 playoffs.

"We had a talk after Game 5 and we said, 'We can't let the same things keep happening over and over and over again. At some point we have to put an end to it.' And we did," recalled Tyrese Maxey, Embiid's guard with 30 points and 11 rebounds.

"Just playing hard," the Cameroonian said of the key to victory. "We started well and then in the second quarter and at the beginning of the fourth we relaxed a little bit. But we stuck together and closed it out."

Embiid's return

The Celtics had taken advantage of the Cameroonian center's absence in the first three games, due to an appendicitis operation, to take a large lead of 3-1.

But Philadelphia proved to be a completely different team when it had its star and scored the next two wins to force the outcome on Sunday.

"What has changed in this series is the return of Joel Embiid. The team is completely transformed with him," acknowledged Boston coach Joe Mazzulla.

Boston's prospects darkened two hours before kickoff when Tatum's absence due to a left knee problem was confirmed.

The forward, who missed the first five months of competition due to a ruptured Achilles tendon, had retired from the court during Thursday's heavy defeat.

Tatum's release

With Tatum in street clothes, Mazzulla presented an innovative quintet of which three members (Luka Garza, Ron Harper Jr. and Baylor Scheierman) left their point scores at zero.

Spanish rookie Hugo González also did not score in his 13 minutes of play off the bench.

The locals held on to their only two survivors from the 2024 title, Jaylen Brown and Derrick White, who scored 33 and 26 points respectively.

Beyond the veterans, the locals relied everything on outside shooting and paid for their low 27% success rate in triples, with 13 made out of 49 attempts.

Although they were 18 points behind, the Celtics showed their pride to get within 99-98 with less than four minutes remaining.

The TD Garden was a pressure cooker but a string of shooting errors and seven points in a row from Maxey sealed the victory and the visitors' qualification.

For Boston it was the end of a strange season in which they achieved second place in the East, and were emerging as candidates to return to the Finals, against all odds due to Tatum's serious injury and the sales of Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday.

"It was a great season," Brown summarized. "Obviously it didn't end the way we would have liked but I give credit to Philadelphia (...) There is nothing for our team to hang our heads over."

© 2026 AFP

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