Instant observations: Joel Embiid returns in time for Celtics to spank Sixers in Game 4

Humiliation There were about seven minutes on Sunday when the arena in South Philly was genuinely charged up, with Joel Embiid making his return and putting on quite a display during his first shift of the game. He drew two quick fouls on Queta, bodied Nic Vucevic on a post-up, and ran the floor hard for a dunk in transition, generating the loudest pop of the night from the home crowd. Unfortunately, that was the point at which the fun ended.

We are four games into this series, and Nick Nurse still has not figured out that Andre Drummond is in deep trouble against any of Boston’s five-out lineups. After Embiid hit the bench for the first time, a little under seven minutes of the game, Philadelphia was down just a point and holding up well defensively, hanging in despite an anemic shooting performance. It didn’t take long for the Celtics to play hunt the big bozo, with Drummond absolutely hopeless at defending in space.

It wasn’t much more complicated than bringing the big up to screen for Payton Pritchard and letting Boston’s bench spark plug destroy Drummond in drop coverage. Drummond was apparently surprised that Pritchard, a big-time pull-up threat who won last year’s Sixth Man of the Year award. It took until the Celtics had built up a double-digit lead for Nurse to react and bring Embiid back with a quick sub, and by that point, it was too late.

The bigger problem, unfortunately, is the same issue we’ve been talking about for close to a half-decade — the Sixers simply cannot rebound the ball as a team. In that sense, Nurse’s decision to continue going back to Drummond makes sense, as he’s one of the few guys with any sort of plan to help on the glass. But no matter who was on the floor, the Sixers got humiliated by the Celtics in the rebounding battle.