Joel Embiid made his go back to the courtroom Sunday night time not up to a month after he underwent an emergency appendectomy.
That didn’t sluggish the Boston Celtics down one bit.
The Celtics cruised to a dominant 128-96 win over Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers in Sport 4 in their opening-round playoff collection. That gave the Celtics a 3-1 lead within the collection and put them a win clear of making it into the following around.
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Embiid underwent surgical operation in Houston on April 9 after he was once recognized with appendicitis, one thing that may usually take as much as six weeks to get well from. That knocked Embiid out for the remainder of the common season and the beginning of the playoffs.
Embiid have been running on his comeback right through the playoffs and started a power and conditioning program final week. He was once indexed as “unsure” forward of the 76ers’ 108-100 loss to the Celtics in Sport 3 on Friday and didn’t play.
The staff introduced not up to an hour prior to Sport 4 was once scheduled to tip off at Xfinity Cellular Area that Embiid was once to be had and within the beginning lineup. The previous league MVP performed with a distinct wrap round his midsection to give protection to the affected space.
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Embiid scored the primary 8 issues of the night time for the 76ers, together with a two-handed dunk on a quick damage. He had 10 within the first duration after going 3-of-5 from the sector.
However Embiid’s sizzling get started didn’t do a lot to discourage the Celtics. Boston ended the outlet duration on an 11-2 tear, capped via a one-legged buzzer-beater from Payton Pritchard, to seize a 16-point lead. Pritchard had 13 issues within the first 12 mins.
Embiid didn’t make a box objective in the second one quarter, on the other hand, and Boston driven its result in 18 via halftime. From there, the Celtics by no means relinquished keep an eye on of the sport. They cruised in the second one part to the 32-point win.
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Pritchard completed with 32 issues off the bench with six 3-pointers for the Celtics. Jayson Tatum had 30 issues, 11 assists and seven rebounds. Boston made 24 3-pointers in comparison to 9 for Philadelphia.
Embiid led Philadelphia with 26 issues and 10 rebounds. He went 9-of-21 from the sector and 1-of-6 from past the arc. Tyrese Maxey added 22 issues, and Paul George completed with 16 issues.
Embiid averaged 26.9 issues and seven.7 rebounds in 38 video games within the common season for the 76ers. It marked his 3rd immediately season by which he’s seemed in fewer than 40 contests because of accidents. Ahead of his appendicitis, Embiid additionally handled an indirect pressure, a sore proper knee and shin factor and a proper knee damage. Embiid performed in simply 19 video games final season with lingering left knee problems.
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Whilst Embiid must be excellent to head for Sport 5 on Tuesday night time in Boston, it won’t make a lot of a distinction. The Celtics are rolling, and glance each and every little bit of a staff this is able to creating a deep postseason run this spring. In accordance with how issues have long gone to this point, it’s going to take an enormous effort from Embiid and the remainder of the 76ers to increase the collection and produce it again to Philadelphia.