The emotional high for the 76ers came very early in their Game 4 matchup against the Boston Celtics, when center Joel Embiid, just over two weeks after appendix surgery, took the floor for pregame layups and shortly after was introduced in the starting lineup.
Unfortunately for them, their play never reached the level of the Celtics in any way, and Boston ruined Embiid's return with a 128-96 win to give them a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 5 will be played Tuesday at TD Garden.
Embiid came out with energy and purpose, and scored the first eight points for the Sixers. A Paul George three even gave them a 13-12 lead. But over the next two minutes, Boston went on a 11-0 run on two threes from Payton Pritchard and five points from Jayson Tatum. Boston never looked back, as at one point in the first half, the Celtics had seven mad three-pointers while the Sixers had just six field goals on 24 shot attempts. Boston attacked Embiid at the defensive end and perfectly ran pick-and-rolls, found open jump shooters and pretty much did whatever they wanted offensively in building a 56-38 lead.
Offensive rebounding by Boston, which has been a thorn in the Sixers' side all series, again came into play as the Celtics built their big lead at the break. At one point, of their 18 misses, the Celtics had eight offensive rebounds. They outscored the Sixers 13-0 on second-chance points in the deciding first half. Boston went on to win 128-96.
Embiid led the Sixers with 26 points, and added 10 rebounds and six assists. Maxey scored 22 and George added 16. Pritchard had 32 off the bench to lead Boston, while Tatum added 30 points, seven rebounds and 11 assists. Jaylen Brown scored 20.
In Friday's win over the Sixers, 20 of Boston's 36 field goals were threes. Sunday, that number was 24 of 41. On the day, the Celtics were 24-for-53 (45.3 percent) from beyond the arc.
"I can try to match up the best I can," said coach Nick Nurse of the offensive rebound problem. "That's probably one of the first things. You just have to fight a little harder, block out a little better. Make sure that all five guys are involved or that anyone is taking a possession off or the end of the possession off. And then just be really determined to chase loose balls."
Whatever the plan, it just didn't work, even with Embiid back in the starting lineup. The Sixers struggled everywhere. Maxey, who was averaging 27 points in the series, was held to just three shot attempts in the first half. Embiid missed seven of his first 10.
"Playoffs, in general, you're seeing some low field goal percentages probably in a lot of games, a lot of guys," said Nurse. "What I do think that happens in the playoffs is guys have really great games and guys have really poor games and it kind of keeps going up and down and it kind of shifts who's going to chip in on certain nights. I think it has to keep moving and who's going to make the plays. You've seen that in this series already. It's just a matter of where the ball ends up finding people and then just a matter of some of those go in and some of those don't go in and it can turn a night around or game to game around."
Everything found Pritchard in this one. He nailed open threes and contested ones. He created his own shots. He beat anyone and everyone off the dribble, either to get his own shot or find someone else for one. He was unstoppable, no matter who was on him. And he was the biggest part in putting the Sixers' season on the brink of ending.
And taking all the air out of the hype that the return of Embiid caused.
