Joel Embiid Fires Back at Celtics Star as 76ers Complete Historic 3–1 Comeback
Joel Embiid ©Joel Embiid When the Philadelphia 76ers arrived in the postseason shorthanded, they were carrying the weight of decades of postseason heartbreak and three personal series losses for their big man. But that burden was finally lifted off the shoulders of Joel Embiid on Saturday night. In a performance for the ages, the 76ers stunned the NBA world by completing a massive comeback to eliminate the Boston Celtics in seven games.
While the victory was a reflection of the Sixers’ resilience that had dimmed in recent seasons, it was also a story of a fresh grudge. Following the clincher, Embiid revealed that his dominant play was sparked by what he perceived as a lack of respect from the Celtics’ locker room. Celtics star gets credit for Joel Embiid and 76ers win The turning point of the series may have happened before Joel Embiid even stepped foot on the court.
During the lead-up to Game 3, with Embiid’s status highly questionable while he recovered from an emergency appendectomy in early April, Celtics guard Payton Pritchard dismissed the impact of the reigning MVP’s potential return. “If he plays, he plays,” Pritchard stated at the time. “We’ll figure that out.
It’s not like we’re sitting here worried if he’s playing or not… we haven’t even game-planned for him yet. ” Embiid kept those receipts and didn’t bring them out till the dust of Game 7 settled. In his post-game press conference following the Game 7 victory, Embiid directly addressed Pritchard by his jersey number 11 for the dismissive comments.
“I saw, you know, number 11 on the team, before I came back. He said, they didn’t care if I was playing or not and hadn’t even adjusted or, you know, had some sort of game plan around me,” Embiid said with a smirk. He went on to explain how that lack of preparation played right into his hands.
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