Joel Embiid came back, but the series did not come back with him. In Game 4 in Philadelphia, the Boston Celtics overwhelmed the 76ers 128-96, taking a 3-1 lead in their first-round series and turning Embiid’s long-awaited return into a footnote beneath an avalanche of green shooting. Embiid, who had been sidelined after an emergency appendectomy, finished with 26 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, but Boston had too much spacing, too much depth and far too much Payton Pritchard.
Pritchard delivered the night of his postseason life, scoring 32 points off the bench and making six of Boston’s 24 three-pointers. Jayson Tatum added 30 points and 11 assists, giving the Celtics both the unexpected spark and the expected star power they needed to bury Philadelphia early and never really let the game breathe again.
That was the cruel part for the Sixers. Embiid’s return should have changed the room. Instead, Boston changed the math. The Celtics hit from everywhere, controlled the glass and built the kind of lead that made Philadelphia’s emotional lift irrelevant. Tyrese Maxey scored 22 and Paul George added 16, but the Sixers never found enough collective resistance to match the moment.
Now the series returns to Boston, where the Celtics can close it out in Game 5. For Philadelphia, the problem is no longer just health. It is survival. Embiid’s presence gives the Sixers a centerpiece again, but Game 4 made the harsher truth clear: against this version of Boston, one returning star is not enough if the rest of the night belongs to the Celtics’ machine.
