Tim Bontemps
Multiple Authors
BOSTON — It took 44 years, but the Philadelphia 76ers have finally beaten the Boston Celtics in a playoff series.
Behind arguably the best playoff performance of Joel Embiid’s career, the 76ers came into TD Garden and not only claimed a heart-stopping 109-100 victory in Game 7 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series against their conference rivals, but Philadelphia also became the 14th team in NBA history to come back from down 3 games to 1 to win a best-of-7 series.
Prior to Saturday’s win, the 76ers held the NBA’s record by having gone 0-18 in that spot in their prior history. Boston, on the other hand, had been 32-0 when holding a 3 games to 1 lead in a series. That record is now 32-1.
It also marked the first time since 1982 that Philadelphia managed to beat its rivals, snapping a streak of six consecutive series losses — the last three of which Embiid has taken part in.
But behind 34 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists from Embiid and 30 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists from Tyrese Maxey — making them the first two teammates in NBA history to each have 30-10-5 in a Game 7 — the 76ers finally found a way to break through against their bitter rivals.
And, as a result, Philadelphia will now travel to New York and play the Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals beginning Monday night.
But the craziness in the latest installment of one of the league’s most historic rivalries — the two teams have played each other in 23 different series, more than any other matchup in NBA playoff history — began in the hours leading up to Game 7 Saturday afternoon, when Tatum was put on the injury report and then ruled out with left knee stiffness.
“He just came in today with knee discomfort,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said during his pregame media availability a few minutes after Tatum was ruled out. “And we decided, the medical staff and myself, that he would not play.”
Mazzulla, who added that Tatum had discomfort behind his knee and was day-to-day, started a lineup of Derrick White, Baylor Scheierman, Jaylen Brown, Ron Harper Jr. and Luka Garza, a grouping that had never played together before starting the biggest game of Boston’s season.
It then looked like a group that hadn’t played together before, as Philadelphia raced out to an early lead and quickly forced Mazzulla to start making changes. From there, the game fell into a fairly steady rhythm back-and-forth, with Philadelphia – outside of a brief stretch in the second quarter – staying in the lead, only for Boston to keep pulling back within striking distance again.
When Philadelphia – primarily with Embiid on the bench – went on a 14-3 run to break the game open to an 18-point lead in the third quarter, it looked like, for a moment, the 76ers may have created enough separation to start to look ahead to the conference semifinals.
But, in fitting fashion for a rivalry with this much history, Boston immediately struck back at the start of the fourth quarter, cutting the lead to one on several occasions – including when Jaylen Brown cut the lead to 97-96 with 5:02 remaining in the game.
Over the next few minutes, though, Boston missed nine consecutive shots – including five that would’ve either tied or given the Celtics the lead – before eight straight points from Maxey inside the final two minutes finally put the game away for Philadelphia.
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