04/26/26 10:20:00
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04/26 22:19 CDT Celtics spoil Embiid's return to action after appendectomy,
beat 76ers to take 3-1 series lead
Celtics spoil Embiid's return to action after appendectomy, beat 76ers to take
3-1 series lead
By DAN GELSTON
AP Sports Writer
PHILADELPHIA (AP) --- Payton Pritchard made six of Boston's 24 3-pointers and
scored 32 points and Jayson Tatum had 30 points and 11 assists to help the
Boston Celtics spoil Joel Embiid's return from an appendectomy and beat the
Philadelphia 76ers 128-96 on Sunday night for a 3-1 lead in their first-round
playoff series.
Game 5 is Tuesday night in Boston.
"It's going to have to be a big pick-up mentally," 76ers coach Nick Nurse said.
Jaylen Brown scored 20 points for the Celtics, who thumped the Sixers by 32
points for the second time in the series. The Celtics outrebounded the Sixers
51-30.
Embiid scored 26 points in 34 minutes just 17 days after having an
appendectomy. Embiid wasted little time scoring in his first game since April
6. The two-time NBA scoring champion sank two free throws for the Sixers' first
points of the game, added a monster two-handed jam and scored the team's first
eight points.
Embiid withered after the fast start and missed seven straight shots before he
converted a three-point play in the third quarter. That cut the Sixers' deficit
to 23.
The Celtics hardly needed much production from Brown or Tatum --- they combined
for 50 points in a Game 3 win and only 13 in the first half of Game 4 --- and
used a whopping 14-rebound edge in the first half that sparked a 13-0 shutout
in second-chance points to build a 21-point lead.
All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey took a backseat to Embiid and took only three shots
in the first half. He scored 22 points for the Sixers.
"That can't happen," Maxey said of the slow start. "That's on me. That's just
unacceptable by me. I was playing within the flow of the game. It kind of
happened that way. It wasn't meant to happen that way."
Maxey and the Sixers largely tried to get Embiid rolling early.
Embiid had an appendectomy in Houston on April 9 after Philadelphia's star big
man was stricken with appendicitis overnight. He returned to the court Sunday
wearing a protective brace around his midsection and was cleared to play about
40 minutes before the scheduled tipoff.
"What am I going to do? Cry about it?" Embiid said of his latest postseason
malady.
Whatever emotional lift he provided lasted only minutes into the first quarter.
Pritchard buried a long 3 on one leg to end the first quarter and give Boston a
34-18 lead.
"He's just a guy that finds the game. He dictates the pace for us," Celtics
coach Joe Mazulla said. "He did a good job of that for himself and others
tonight. When we're at our best, he's aggressive."
Embiid shot 3 of 5 in the first quarter while the rest of the Sixers missed 10
of 13 shots.
There were some questions about how Tatum's return in early March from the
ruptured Achilles tendon he suffered in the playoffs last May would affect the
flow of a group that had learned to adjust and thrive without the six-time
All-Star.
Instead, Tatum has reacclimated himself in short order and the Celtics are
dominating like a team that feels as though the East will go through Boston.
Embiid's gutsy return mattered little, and now the Celtics can clinch the
series at home and wait for the winner of the Atlanta Hawks-New York Knicks
series.
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
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